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 history and Government 
 of New York 
 
 BY 
 
 AVERY WARNER ^KINNER 
 
 SPECIALIST IN HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OP THE STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 A Supplement to 
 
 ELEMENTARY AMERICAN HISTORY AND 
 GOVERNMENT 
 
 BY 
 
 James Albert Woodburn, Ph.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY AND POLITICS IN INDIANA UNIVERSITY 
 
 AND 
 
 Thomas Francis Moran, Ph.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND ECONOMICS IN PURDUE UNIVERSITY 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 
 
 FOURTH AVENUE AND 30TH STREET, NEW YORK 
 PRAIRIE AVENUE AND 25TH STREET, CHICAGO 
 Copyright, 19i8, by Longmans, Green and Co. 
 
 t^i'^ri'yiripi^'Ti'TiTiTi'vrsLni^^^^ 
 
. S 6 7i 
 
 OCT 10 1918 
 
 •••Vl.'t!' I 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 ^' OF NEW YORK 
 
 
 By AVERY WARNER SKINNER 
 
 Specialist in History, University of the State of New York 
 
 THE PEOPLE OF THE LONG HOUSE 
 
 The Coming of the Iroquois. Before European adventurers 
 had reached the shores of America the territory now included 
 within the boundaries of the state of New York was gradually 
 being occupied by a powerful race of Indians known as the 
 Iroquois. It is not possible to state definitely the origin of 
 these Indians. The more probable theory is that they originally 
 Hved in the region centering at the mouth of the Ohio River 
 and from there gradually worked their way in a northeasterly 
 direction, following the course of this river. Another theory 
 is that they were of western origin, possibly an offshoot of the 
 great Sioux or Dacotah Nation, and as early as the thirteenth 
 century had begun to migrate eastward. During either of these 
 migratory movements, which continued nearly three centuries, 
 they separated into Httle groups which were widely scattered 
 throughout the territory east of the Mississippi. The Chero- 
 kees of Georgia and Tennessee, the Tuscaroras of Carolina, and 
 the Hurons of Ontario all belonged to the Iroquois family. 
 Some of the Hurons settled in the vicinity of Niagara and 
 others in the valley of the St. Lawrence. Here they came in 
 contact with another great race of Indians, called the Algon- 
 quins, who occupied the greater part of eastern North America. 
 From these two settlements in lower Canada they migrated 
 again, this time into the warmer climate of central New York. 
 
ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 Here they found a permanent home and were gradually organ- 
 ized into five distinct tribes or nations known as the Mohawks, 
 the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas. 
 The Mohawks, driven from their territory in the vicinity of 
 Montreal and Quebec, came into the valley of the river which 
 bears their name. The Senecas, moving gradually from the 
 highlands of southwestern New York, occupied the fertile plains 
 
 of the Genesee. Even before this time it is probable that the 
 Oneidas, the Onondagas, and the Cayugas had established them- 
 selves in the hill country surrounding the ''finger" lakes of 
 central New York. 
 
 The names given to these tribes are in part the English 
 equivalents 'of Indian words; and the localities in which they 
 lived are still indicated by the rivers and lakes which bear their 
 names. The tribes, as a whole, were called by the French "the 
 Iroquois," by the English "the Five Nations," but the Iroquois, 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 3 
 
 proud of the fair country which they controlled, called them- 
 selves "The People of the Long House." 
 
 As they grew in numbers and in power they seized the hunt- 
 ing grounds of the Algonquin tribes within the state and either 
 drove these weaker Indians out of this territory or forced them 
 to become their vassals. The Mohegans of the Hudson valley, 
 the Adirondacks of northeastern New York, and the Eries in 
 the west soon felt their power. Their form of political organiza- 
 tion aided them in their conquests, for the five tribes, already 
 bound together by ties of kinship, soon found it necessary to 
 unite for purposes of common defense and aggression. 
 
 About the middle of the sixteenth century they formed a rude 
 republic which has since been called the League of the Iroquois. 
 It is interesting to note that, more than fifty years before any 
 permanent English settlements were made in the New World 
 and two hundred years before the United States was estab- 
 lished, these people, whom we regard as savages, had in actual 
 operation a democratic federation in which both men and 
 women shared. 
 
 Their Political System. This League of the Iroquois was 
 not closely knit together. It was rather a confederation of 
 independent tribes or nations. It had a governing body, which 
 consisted of a council of fifty men selected from the five nations 
 in the League. These men were called sachems, and in the great 
 council determined matters relating to the welfare of the League, 
 but as all action required a unanimous vote it was seldom possi- 
 ble to reach a common decision. So it was that each tribe often 
 acted independently of thje others. At the time of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution most of the Oneidas, under the leadership of 
 their great chief Skenendoah, aided the cause of the colonies, 
 while the rest of the Iroquois remained loyal to the British. 
 
 The sachemships were not distributed equally, for the Onon- 
 dagas, one of the smaller nations, had fourteen, while the Sene- 
 cas, who were the most numerous, had only eight. The sachems 
 not only acted together as a central law-making body, but, as 
 
4 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 individuals, ruled the nation to which each belonged. They 
 were assisted in these tribal duties by chiefs chosen from among 
 the members of the nation who had won honor in war or at the 
 council lire. When matters affecting the confederation as a 
 whole arose, runners summoned the chiefs and the sachems to 
 a grand council which met usually at the castle or village of the 
 Onondagas. Thus it will be seen that this primitive system 
 was not unlike our own federal government in which there 
 is a centralized general authority supported by sovereign states. 
 Life and Occupations of the Iroquois. When the white man 
 first came in contact with the Iroquois he found them living in 
 villages in which the houses were built of logs or of bark. The 
 
 A Wampum Belt, Used by the I^^DIANs for Various Purposes: for Con- 
 dolences, FOR Treaties, for Formal Messages, etc. 
 
 villages were usually situated on high ground overlooking the 
 surrounding country and were inclosed by a palisade of logs so 
 that they could be defended. Here they made their winter 
 homes, but in the summer time hunting and fishing parties 
 would come down from these hill villages and camp beside 
 the lakes and rivers of the valley. 
 
 The Iroquois had learned the art of agriculture and raised a 
 sufficient amount of maize, beans, and tobacco to supply the 
 needs of each village. They had acquired considerable skill in 
 fashioning implements of flint and of stone for use in war and' 
 in hunting. Longfellow, in his beautiful poem Hiawatha, the 
 legend of an Onondaga chief, tells of the building of their grace- 
 ful birch-bark canoes. Their pottery was made of clay and was 
 usually adorned with a simple geometric design. The women 
 used needles made from bone and knew how to tan leather and 
 to weave baskets. After the white man came they obtained 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 
 
6 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 iron tools and with these often carved bone and wooden orna- 
 ments. With these iron tools they also wrought in brass and 
 copper and to a slight degree in silver. In this respect they 
 were far in advance of the surrounding peoples. Most of the 
 domestic work was done by the women and children, while the 
 men engaged in war or in hunting and trapping. 
 
 Sources of their Strength. The Iroquois were never a numer- 
 ous people. At the height of their power they probably num- 
 bered less than twenty-five thousand. But they were alert 
 and vigorous and had progressed farther toward a civilized 
 state than the people whom they subdued. In addition, they 
 held what Fiske has called the most important military posi- 
 tion in eastern North America. They called this territory their 
 Long House — a name which is also appHed to the houses in 
 which they lived. From the eastern door of the Long House on 
 the Hudson, their land extended to the Niagara frontier, which 
 was the western gateway. Along the water routes and the 
 Indian trails that interlace this territory, the bronzed warriors of 
 this famous federation traveled swiftly and struck relentlessly. 
 They were known and feared from the Atlantic to the Missis- 
 sippi and levied tribute upon a vast empire. War bands of the 
 League were seen on the distant shores of Lake Superior and 
 on the Tennessee. In 1607 Captain John Smith met a party 
 of the Iroquois in their canoes on the waters of 'Chesapeake Bay, 
 and in 1681 they attacked the fort which La Salle had built 
 for the Illinois on the shores of the Mississippi. 
 
 Their Later History. After the Dutch had founded the 
 colony of New Netherland, the Iroquois lived on terms of 
 friendship with them and their English successors, but with 
 the French in Canada they were constantly at war. The causes 
 of that antagonism will be told in another chapter, but it is 
 well to note here that the Iroquois held, for more than a cen- 
 tury, the frontiers of New York against the encroachments of 
 the French, who were eager to gain a foothold in all the territory 
 drained by the St. Lawrence River system. 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 7 
 
 In 1 715 the Tuscaroras, a southern tribe of Iroquois stock, 
 were driven from the CaroKnas and sought a refuge among 
 their kinsmen of the north. They were admitted to the League 
 and given a portion of the lands held by the Oneidas. From 
 that time the Iroquois were known as "The Six Nations." 
 
 It would be interesting to study in detail the history of these 
 remarkable people, for in it may be traced within the space 
 of a few centuries the rapid progress from savagery to semi- 
 civilization of a brave and vigorous race, but the rest of their 
 story is so linked with that of European colonization that it 
 may well be followed in an account of that' period. We do not 
 need to go to Greece or to the valley of the Nile to learn about 
 prehistoric life, for our forefathers met and talked with men 
 of the Stone Age in the valleys of the Mohawk and the Genesee. 
 
 Uninfluenced by European ideas, they had achieved for them- 
 selves a stable and an effective form of government which they 
 wisely administered and courageously defended. They had 
 developed some of the simpler arts and crafts which make for 
 civilization and they had extended their influence over half a 
 continent. But they were destined to yield to a higher civiliza- 
 tion, and with the coming of the white man their power slowly 
 but surely declined. In the passing of a great race before the 
 steady advance of another and a stronger one these primitive 
 peoples simply repeated the history of mankind in its progres- 
 sive growth. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 
 
 1. Describe the coming of the Iroquois. 
 
 2. What would have been the probable effect on the history of New York 
 if the French had succeeded in estabhshing friendly relations with the 
 Iroquois? 
 
 3. Imagine yourself an Indian boy: tell the story of your home life and 
 occupations. 
 
 4. Draw a map showing the territory occupied by each tribe of the 
 Five Nations. 
 
8 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 5. In what ways was the system of government of the Iroquois league 
 like or unlike our own federal goverrunent? 
 
 6. What were the sources of strength of the Iroquois? 
 
 REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING 
 
 1. Morgan: "The League of the Iroquois." 
 
 2. Campbell: "Pioneer Priests of North America," Vol. I. 
 
 3. Parkman: "The Jesuits in North America," Vol. II. 
 
 4. Parkman: "Pioneers of France in the New World," Vol. II, Chapters 
 X and XIV. 
 
 5. Home: "History of New York," Chapter II. 
 
 6. Roberts: "New York," Vol. I, Chapter IX. 
 
EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS 
 
 The Coming of the White Man. The sixteenth century was a 
 period of awakening for Europe. The printing of books and 
 the revival of learning stirred men's minds. Old trade routes 
 to Asia had been shut off and commerce looked toward the 
 west for other routes. New inventions made the task of the 
 navigators simpler, and sailors of all nations boldly set forth 
 upon unknown seas. It was a brave and adventurous age and 
 none were braver than the men who searched the shores of a 
 new world for a passage to the Indies. 
 
 The French in New York. Among these was Verazzano, an 
 Italian explorer in the employ of France. He was the first 
 European of whom there is authentic record as the discoverer 
 of New York. But he seemed to be content to view only the 
 bay into which the Hudson flows and so sailed away to France 
 without realizing that the river whose mouth he had entered 
 was the gateway to a continent. It is possible that French 
 and Portuguese traders also knew of this river, but they left no 
 trace of their visits. 
 
 About the beginning of the seventeenth century the King of 
 France determined to establish a French colony in the northern 
 part of America. Cartier, by his exploration of the St. Lawrence 
 River in 1535, had laid the foundation for French claim to this 
 territory, and the man chosen to make this claim secure was 
 Samuel de Champlain. He was a bold and self-reliant man 
 who had already won renown in the service of his country. In 
 1605 he established a colony at Port Royal, Nova Scotia, and 
 three years later he founded the city of Quebec. He made 
 friends with the Algonquin Indians, who inhabited this section, 
 and was easily persuaded to join one of their war parties in 
 an expedition against the Mohawks, their ancient enemy. 
 
 Starting from Quebec, Champlain, with two French com- 
 panions and a small band of Indians, paddled up the St. Law- 
 
 9 
 
lo 
 
 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 rence to the Richelieu River. Here they were joined by some 
 Huron allies and commenced their invasion of the Iroquois 
 territory. They passed through the Richelieu into a great 
 lake which until that time no white man had looked upon. 
 Champlain describes it as a "large lake filled with beautiful 
 islands and with a fine country surrounding it." In honor of 
 its discoverer this lake is to-day fittingly called Lake Champlain. 
 
 M^^^^L^:z:::u^^^.-.':i<£~:L.^^^i^^\'^ 
 
 FIRST SETTLEMENTS 
 
 in the 
 STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 SCALE OF MILES 
 
 C iaj Sj CO so 
 
 SETTLEMENTS IN GROUPS OF YEARS 
 i 1614-1700 r-?^-'- 11700-1800 ^^^ 
 
 The little band paddled southward over its broad waters until, 
 at a point near the present village of Ticonderoga, they met a 
 war party of the Iroquois, and in the battle which followed 
 Champlain and his men were victorious. The Iroquois never 
 forgave the French for their share in this victory. It was the 
 white man's musket, which they faced for the first time, that 
 drove the Iroquois back. 
 
 SLx years later Champlain, returning from a visit to the 
 Huron country, crossed the eastern end of Lake Ontario, the 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 
 
 II 
 
 "Beautiful Lake" of the Indians, and landed at the mouth of 
 the Salmon river, which the Indians called " Ga-hen-wa-go " 
 and the French "La Famine Riviere." From here he pushed 
 his way southward through the forests until he reached a 
 stockaded fort of the Oneidas in the hills south of the present 
 city of Oneida. This fort he besieged, unsuccessfully; he 
 was wounded and forced to retreat. These two encounters of 
 the French with the Iroquois laid the foundation for the 
 
 Father Joques Preaching to the Mohawks ^ 
 
 hatred which these powerful Indians felt ever afterwards for 
 the French. During the next centuries there was constant 
 warfare between them, and after the Iroquois had obtained 
 firearms from Dutch and English traders they were often vic- 
 torious. Tracy's invasion of the Mohawk country in 1666 led 
 to a cessation of hostilities for nearly twenty years. Then 
 the Senecas became troublesome, and in 1687 Denonville, the 
 Governor General of New France, with 3000 regulars and 
 Indians — the largest force the French ever sent against the 
 Iroquois — marched against the Senecas, burned their villages, 
 
 ' From Parkman's " The Jesuits in North America." Copyright, 1907, by 
 Little, Brown, & Co. Used by special permission. 
 
12 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 destroyed their crops, and built a fort at Niagara. In retaliation 
 a great Iroquois invasion of Canada nearly swept the French 
 settlements out of existence. 
 
 The only bright spot in this century of cruel warfare and 
 misery is the work of French missionaries among the people of 
 the Long House. There are no fairer or braver pages in the 
 history of our state than those which record the holy zeal and 
 lofty devotion to duty shown by the Jesuit Fathers — of whom 
 Isaac Jogues, Simon LeMoyne, and Julien Gamier are heroic 
 examples — in their efforts to plant the cross of Christ and the 
 lilies of France among the Indians of central New York. But 
 these black-robed Fathers were political agents of France as 
 well as priests of Christ, and the English governors — espe- 
 cially Dongan, himself a Catholic -;- sought to counteract their 
 influence by sending English priests among the Iroquois. 
 
 Dutch Explorations. In the sixteenth century Spain was 
 the most powerful nation in Europe. She held vast possessions 
 both in the Old World and in the New. But the defeat in 1588 
 by the English of her great fleet — the Armada — wrested 
 from her the control of the sea, and the revolt of the Spanish 
 Netherlands took her choicest European possession. The 
 northern provinces of the Netherlands united to form the 
 Dutch Republic, or Holland. This brave little nation pros- 
 pered and soon came to be a leader in commerce. 
 
 One of its chief organizations was the Dutch East India 
 Company, which had built up a profitable trade with the East 
 Indies. They sought, as did others, a more direct route to 
 the Indies, and engaged Henry Hudson for the venture. He 
 was an Englishman who had already made two daring attempts 
 to reach the Indies by a passage across the Arctic Ocean. In 
 a little ship called the Half Moon, which the Company equipped 
 for him, he made a third attempt by the same route. Bafiied 
 by ice, he turned westward, crossed the Atlantic, and after 
 sailing along the New England coast entered New York Bay. 
 Remaining here a few days, he turned the prow of his little 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 13 
 
 ship northward, and sailed into the noble river which now 
 bears his name. This he explored as far as the present city of 
 Albany. A boat's crew which he sent further north to make 
 soundings returned with the report that the channels were 
 shallow and the water fresh. This convinced Hudson that there 
 was here no sea passage to the Indies. So, with his ship laden 
 with furs, he sailed for Holland. He stopped en route at the 
 English port of Dartmouth, where he was detained by the King, 
 but was allowed to send on his report to the Company. 
 
 The Dutch Traders. When the news of Hudson's discoveries 
 had reached Holland, the Dutch were greatly elated. They 
 had traded in furs for many years with Russia and quickly 
 realized the importance of the rich fur-bearing region which 
 Hudson had found. During the next ten years many Dutch 
 traders made voyages to this new country. Among the most 
 resolute of these were Adriaen Block and Hendrick Christiansen. 
 Block lost one of his ships by fire and was compelled to 
 spend the winter of 16 13-16 14 on Manhattan Island. The 
 log huts which he and his men built there were the first white 
 men's homes on the site of the present city of New York. Dur- 
 ing the winter he also built a little vessel which he called the 
 Onrust or Restless in which in the spring he explored Long 
 Island Sound and the New England coast as far as Cape Cod. 
 Other Dutch traders went south along the Jersey coast to Cape 
 May and visited the Delaware River, which they named the 
 South River. The Hudson was then known as the North River. 
 
 The Dutch claimed, as a result of these explorations, all the 
 territory from Cape Cod to Cape May. Later, they narrowed 
 their claims to the land between the Connecticut and Delaware 
 Rivers, but they were never able to hold all of this territory. 
 
 About the same time that Block was on Manhattan Island, 
 Christiansen, wishing to establish himself nearer the heart of 
 the fur country, built a trading post on a little island near the 
 present city of Albany. This he surrounded by a strong stock- 
 ade and named it Fort Nassau. The post was soon moved to 
 
14 
 
 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 a better location at the mouth of the Normans Kill, a little 
 creek two miles south of the former site. Here, in 1617, the 
 treaty of Tawasentha was made with much ceremony between 
 the Dutch and the Indians. The River Indians, as the Mohi- 
 cans and the Delawares were called, joined with their over-lords, 
 the proud Iroquois, in the pledging of friendly relations with 
 the white men. The influence of this treaty was far-reaching. 
 It was faithfully observed by both parties. It secured the 
 
 Governor Minuit Purchases Manhattan Island from the Indians 
 
 trade and friendship of the people of the Long House and estab- 
 lished them as a barrier against the French in Canada. Later 
 the post at Tawasentha was abandoned and a new site was 
 chosen within the present limits of the city of Albany. Here 
 Fort Orange was built and in time it became the center of a 
 thriving settlement. 
 
 I These trading stations were established under the auspices 
 of the New Netherland Company, an organization of Amster- 
 dam merchants who had been given by the Dutch government 
 in 1614 the first charter for trading in the new land. But this 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 
 
 IS 
 
 company was interested chiefly in the fur trade, and Holland 
 desired to establish more permanent settlements. 
 
 The West India Company. In order to accomplish this, the 
 West India Company was chartered in 162 1 and was given 
 exclusive control of New Netherland. The first colonists were 
 Walloons, French Protestants living in Holland. Thirty fami- 
 lies of these resolute people came over in 1623. Some of them 
 settled on Manhattan Island, but the majority went up the 
 
 The Fort at New Amsterdam, at the Lower End of Manhattan Island, 
 
 ABOUT 1633 
 
 river to Fort Orange. Others followed and it soon became 
 necessary to give the growing colony a stable form of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The Dutch Governors and Patroons. In 1626 Peter Minuit 
 was sent over as governor, with the title of Director-General. 
 He ruled wisely and firmly, and the colony prospered under 
 his leadership. He purchased the island of Manhattan from 
 the Indians. Soon a httle settlement, which he called New 
 Amsterdam, grew up on the lower end of the Island. The 
 village was protected by a log fort and in later years by a pali- 
 
i6 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 saded wall on its northern side. Wall Street now marks the 
 line of this palisade. 
 
 In order to encourage emigration the company gave land 
 to any shareholder of the company who would bring over fifty 
 settlers. These grants were known as patroon estates. The 
 patroon was given eight miles on both sides, or sixteen miles 
 on one side of a navigable river and as far back as he could 
 conveniently locate. He had to purchase the land from the 
 Indians, provide his tenants with farming equipment, and 
 supply a minister and schoolmaster for them. In return they 
 paid him a small rent, bound themselves to remain on the 
 estate a certain number of years, and gave him the first right 
 to purchase their grain, which had to be ground at his mill. 
 It was, in fact, a form of feudalistic land tenure and later was 
 the source of trouble between the heirs of patroon estates and 
 their tenants.' The manor house of the Van Cortlandt estate 
 still stands in Van Cortlandt Park in the northern part of New 
 York City. 
 
 The most prosperous of these patroon estates was established 
 in the vicinity of Fort Orange, by Kilian van Rensselaer, a 
 rich diamond merchant of Amsterdam. It was called Rensse- 
 laerwyck and included a large part of Albany, Columbia, and 
 Rensselaer counties. 
 
 The six years of Minuit's governorsliip were marked by the 
 growth of a peaceful trade with the Indians and by the begin- 
 nings of commerce and of farming in the colony. His succes- 
 sors were not so fortunate. Van Twiller was inexperienced and 
 slow, and Kieft was crafty and hot tempered. In the latter's 
 administration an uprising of the River Indians, for which 
 Kieft's cruelty was largely responsible, almost swept out of 
 existence all of the farm homes and little hamlets in the vicin- 
 ity of New Amsterdam. As a result of this, Kieft was com- 
 pelled to grant to the colonists a degree of self-goverrmient, by 
 associating with him a council for the management of the 
 affairs of the colony. 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 17 
 
 Three of the Dutch pioneers of this period deserve special 
 recognition. One of these, Adam Roelandsen, was the first 
 schoolmaster sent to New Amsterdam. The school which he 
 established was continued by him and his successors, at public 
 expense, until the colony passed into the hands of the English. 
 Another, Megapolensis, the learned ''Dominie" of Fort Orange, 
 had the honor of being the first Protestant missionary to the 
 Mohawks. The third, Arendt van Corlaer, in his position as 
 superintendent of the great Van Rensselaer manor, dealt so 
 justly with the Indians that they called him "Brother Corlaer" 
 and used his name afterward as their title for governors of 
 the colony. They renewed with him the treaty of Tawasentha 
 and always kept unbroken this silver covenant chain of friend- 
 ship with the Dutch. Van Corlaer also founded the first settle- 
 ment in the Mohawk valley at Schenectady. 
 
 English Immigrants. The Dutch were not the only colonizers 
 of New Netherland. The Puritan colony of Massachusetts 
 overflowed into the Connecticut valley and firmly established 
 little communities before the Dutch were able to settle there. 
 From this region many Englishmen crossed to Long Island, and 
 as a result the eastern part of the island was almost wholly 
 colonized by the English. The first of these settlements was 
 planted by Gardiner on an island off the eastern shore of Long 
 Island, which he named after himself. It is interesting to note 
 that the title of this property, based upon the original Indian 
 grant and upon a charter issued by the English King, still 
 remains in the Gardiner family. 
 
 From various parts of New England bands of men and women, 
 weary of the stern rule of the Puritans, sought refuge among 
 the kindlier Dutch. Mrs. Anne Hutchinson and her followers 
 settled at New Rochelle, and in western Long Island the towns 
 of Hempstead, Flushing, Gravesend, and Newtown were 
 planted. These people brought English customs and traditions 
 with them and were granted by Kieft a greater degree of self- 
 government than their Dutch neighbors. 
 
ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 The Last of the Dutch Governors. The last of the Dutch 
 Governors was the bluff soldier Peter Stuyvesant. He was a 
 man of strong character, arbitrary and sometimes narrow- 
 minded in his dealings with the colonists. This was perhaps 
 the result of his military training. But he was just and high- 
 minded and New Netherland thrived under his rule. Much 
 
 of his time was oc- 
 cupied with disputes 
 with Connecticut over 
 boundary lines and 
 with a Swedish colony 
 which had been 
 planted on the Dela- 
 ware. He led an ex- 
 pedition against the 
 latter colony, con- 
 quered it, and brought 
 many of the Swedes 
 back to New Amster- 
 dam. 
 
 Stuyvesant's atti- 
 tude toward people of 
 other religious faiths 
 than his own was in- 
 tolerant. He was es- 
 pecially severe in his 
 treatment of the 
 Quakers and Jews, 
 who flocked to the 
 colony. The West India Company did not approve of this, 
 for Holland had long been the refuge of those who had been 
 persecuted elsewhere for their religious beliefs, and he was 
 compelled to modify his policy. 
 
 New Amsterdam was by this time assuming the character 
 of a cosmopoHtan town. It was a port of entry for the sailors 
 
 STUWLbWr Dl STROYING THT SUMMONS TO SUR- 
 
 RLNDER New Amstlrd\m 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 
 
 19 
 
 of all countries. Spanish and Portuguese, English and Dutch, 
 met and mingled on its streets. It had attained in 1653 to the 
 dignity of a city charter granted by the home government 
 and modeled after the charters of the cities of Holland, and by 
 1664 had a population of 3000. 
 
 New Netherland becomes an English Province. Its growing 
 importance led the English to desire its possession. They had 
 only a shadowy claim to the territory, based on the discoveries 
 of the Cabots and other English explorers, but this did not 
 
 New Amsterdam Passes into the Possession of the English 
 
 deter Charles II from giving what was not rightly his to give. 
 So he made a secret grant to his brother James, Duke of York, 
 of all the region occupied by the Dutch. James took imme- 
 diate steps to secure his gift by sending Nichols with a fleet 
 to seize the Long Island towns and New Amsterdam. When 
 the fleet arrived off the Connecticut shore, it was joined by 
 soldiers from New England eager to assist in the capture of 
 the Dutch possessions. The fort at New Amsterdam was in no 
 condition to withstand a siege, and the inhabitants of the little 
 
20 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 city were not unwilling to try the English rule. Stujrvesant 
 stormed and raged, but as he saw that he would be able to 
 offer only a feeble resistance, he sadly consented to surrender. 
 On September 3, 1664, the town passed into the hands of the 
 English, without the firing of a single shot. The rest of the 
 colony quickly yielded and an English government was set 
 up under the direction of Nichols. The name of New Amster- 
 dam was changed to New York and that of Fort Orange to 
 Albany. As a British province, New Netherland became New 
 York. Aside from the alteration of these titles, the habits and 
 customs of the colony remained practically the same. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 
 
 1. Give an account of the visits of the French to New York in the seven- 
 teenth century. 
 
 2. Name some of the early Dutch explorers and settlers and locate on 
 the map of New York their explorations and settlements. 
 
 3. Describe the patroon system and locate one patroon estate. 
 
 4. Which one of the Dutch governors do you like the best and why? 
 
 5. Tell of the transfer of New Netherland to the English. 
 
 6. Compare the mode of living, dress, and occupations of the Dutch in 
 New Amsterdam with those of the people of New York City to-day. 
 
 7. What peoples settled in New York in the first century of its existence? 
 
 REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING 
 
 1. Fiske: "The Dutch and Quaker Colonies," Vol.1. 
 
 2. Thwaites: "The Colonies," Chapter IX. 
 
 3. Roberts: " New York," Vol. I. 
 
 4. Foote and Skinner: "Explorers and Founders of America." 
 
 5. Innes: "New Amsterdam and its People." 
 '6. Griffis: "The Story of New Netherland." 
 
 7. Earle: " Colonial Days in Old New York." 
 
A CENTURY OF ENGLISH RULE 
 
 The English Governors. For more than a century New York 
 remained in the hands of the English, except for a short period 
 of fourteen months when the Dutch, who were then at war 
 with England, seized the stolen colony and held it until, by 
 the Treaty of Westminster in 1674, it was returned to England. 
 From 1664 until 1685 it was the private property of James 
 Stuart, Duke of York, granted to him by his brother, Charles 
 the Second, King of England. The governors sent over by 
 James were his personal representatives, accountable only to 
 him for the management of the property. 
 
 The first of these governors was Nichols, who had been in 
 command of the fleet which had captured the little city of New 
 Amsterdam in 1664. He seems to have been a moderate and 
 discreet man whose desire was to deal fairly with the people 
 in his charge. He has the honor of being one of the few colonial 
 governors of New York who did not use his office as a means 
 of adding to his private fortune. One of his first acts was to call 
 a meeting of the leading men of the colony to consider the laws 
 which the Duke of York authorized him to establish for the 
 regulation of colonial affairs. Two delegates from each town 
 met and accepted under protest these Duke's Laws. Their 
 chief objection to the laws which Nichols had framed was that 
 they centered all the authority in the governor. Under a kindly 
 man like Nichols such centralization of power might not prove 
 oppressive, but they foresaw its danger when used by a man 
 of a different stamp. 
 
 Nichols was succeeded by Lovelace, whose administration 
 was colorless, and he in turn by Andros, of whom you have read 
 in connection with your study of New England. 
 
 Governor Andros found that his principal task, like that of 
 his predecessors, was to bring his subjects peaceably to accept 
 the English rule. The Dutch Repubhc had been in Europe the 
 
22 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 foremost champion of liberal government, and its American 
 colonists had much the same spirit of independence. Several 
 of the leading citizens of New York refused to take the oath 
 of allegiance which Andros required, but a few weeks in prison 
 brought them to terms. Andros also found his English subjects 
 troublesome, especially those of the Long Island towns. They 
 were bound rather closely by ties of kinship to the people of the 
 Connecticut valley, and many of them, as residents in New 
 England colonies, had become accustomed to the degree of self- 
 government which the charters of these colonies permitted. 
 
 Questions relating to the extent of his authority also arose to 
 vex hun. King Charles, with careless liberality, gave New Jer- 
 sey to two of his favorites, and Penn had also obtained from 
 him a large tract in which was soon established the colony of 
 Pennsylvania. His brother, the Duke of York, later added 
 Delaware to Penn's grant. This materially reduced the extent 
 of the territory intrusted to Andres's care and brought about 
 friction between him and the governors of this territory. It 
 also lessened the revenues which Andros could collect for the 
 proprietor and led to his recall in 1681. The City of New York, 
 however, prospered during this period, largely because it was 
 given a monopoly of the flour industry. The exclusive control 
 of the sifting of meal from bran and of exporting it as flour 
 made the millers and merchants of the little city rich at the 
 expense of the rest of the colony. 
 
 Thomas Dongan, the next governer, was an Irish gentleman 
 of birth and breeding who proved to be a competent and ener- 
 getic leader. He brought with him formal permission from the 
 Duke of York to organize a government in which the people of 
 the colony might share. Steps were at once taken to accom- 
 plish this. A general assembly of eighteen men elected by 
 the vote of the people met in New York on October 17, 1683, 
 and drafted the "Charter of Liberties." This document is 
 most important, for it marks the beginnings of self-government 
 in this state. 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 23 
 
 It provided that legislative authority, under the King and 
 the Proprietor, should be vested in "a governor, council and 
 the people met in a general assembly." It also provided for 
 freedom of religion and for taxation by the consent of the people. 
 In these respects it was far in advance of other colonial charters. 
 
 Governor Dongan approved of the acts of this Assembly and 
 the Duke of York signed the "Charter of Liberties," but it did 
 not remain long in force. No Stuart prince or king ever kept 
 his word if he found that it was to his advantage to break it. 
 James never believed that the common man had any rights 
 which a king should recognize. His seeming willingness to 
 grant such a liberal charter was in order to persuade the colony 
 to give him more money. So when Charles II died, and the 
 Duke of York became James II of England, he promptly but 
 secretly canceled the charter of New York. His intention was 
 to annex it and New Jersey to New England, where, under 
 Andros as governor, he attempted to revoke their liberal char- 
 ters and to form a royal province. Fortunately, however, for 
 the rights of Englishmen in the Old World and in the New, 
 the autocratic rule of James was soon to end. The bloodless 
 revolution of 1688 drove James into a well-merited exile and 
 placed upon the throne of England a liberal ruler in the person 
 of WilHam of Orange. 
 
 Important Events of Dongan's Rule. Several events of 
 Dongan's administration show that he was a liberal and fore- 
 sighted governor. Through the Assembly of 1683 he organized 
 the province into twelve counties. New York, Richmond, Kings, 
 Queens, Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess, Albany, Orange, and 
 Ulster were within the limits of the present state, while Duke's 
 County in Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and Cornwall 
 in Maine, included the territory over which James claimed 
 jurisdiction outside of the state. 
 
 Dongan also vigorously asserted the claims of England to 
 the territory south of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, where 
 the French were attempting to gain a foothold among the 
 
24 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 people of the Long House. Under him the charter given by 
 Stuyvesant to New Amsterdam was reestabUshed, and a city 
 charter was also granted to Albany. These two towns were 
 the first in America to be organized under a city form of 
 of government. 
 
 Dongan wisely fostered friendly relations with the Iroquois, 
 and in order to protect the Albany fur trade purchased from 
 them the lands along thfe upper part of the Susquehanna river, 
 from which many beaver pelts were brought. In this way he 
 prevented William Penn, who saw the opportunity to build 
 up a profitable trade in that region, from obtaining any prop- 
 erty rights there. 
 
 The Leislerian Rebellion. The change of government in 
 England was destined to have far-reaching results in New York. 
 It led almost immediately to a clash between the common 
 people and the office-holding class which, with the rich mer- 
 chants and landed proprietors, formed a little aristocracy in 
 the colony. Jacob Leisler, the champion of the people's cause, 
 was the son of an exiled French Protestant minister. Born in 
 Germany, he came to New York in the service of the Dutch 
 West India Company. Here he established himself as a mer- 
 chant, was elected captain of the militia, and was active in the 
 affairs of the Dutch Reformed Church. 
 
 When the aristocratic element was slow to acknowledge 
 William as King, the people, under the leadership of Leisler, 
 seized the government, appointed a committee of safety, and 
 later, through an assembly which was called, clothed Leisler 
 with all the powers of a governor. Albany and its mayor, Peter 
 Schuyler, did not at first recognize his authority, but when the 
 frontier settlements were threatened by the French in Canada, 
 gladly called upon him for help. Nowhere in the records do we 
 find that Leisler and his followers were disloyal to England in 
 thought or act. He claimed to be conducting the affairs of the 
 colony only until a legally appointed governor should be sent 
 over from England, and justified his actions by vague letters 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 25 
 
 from the King in which WilHam directed "such as may be in 
 rule" to maintain order until the new governor should arrive. 
 As Leisler had been chosen by the people for this very pur- 
 pose he continued to act, much to the rage of the aristocratic 
 party. One of the measures which shows his statesmanship 
 was the calling of a Congress of the Colonies for the purpose of 
 joining in unified action against the menace of the French. 
 Although this Congress accomplished little, it marks the begin- 
 nings of a spirit of unity among the colonists. 
 
 The Fall of Leisler. Finally the slow-acting English govern- 
 ment sent over Colonel Sloughter as its representative. He 
 seems to have moved with characteristic British deliberation, 
 for it was nearly a year and a half after he received his com- 
 mission before he reached New York. In the meantime Cap- 
 tain Ingoldsby, in command of the troops of the new governor, 
 arrived. Leisler refused to surrender to htm on the ground 
 that the worthy captain had no authority to act in Sloughter's 
 place. Leisler held the fort with his militia, while Ingoldsby 
 had his soldiers quartered in the town. Affairs continued in 
 this state of armed neutrality for several months. At last they 
 clashed and in a skirmish several lives were lost. Two days 
 later Sloughter arrived and Leisler promptly recognized his 
 authority. Leisler's enemies immediately took a cruel revenge. 
 They persuaded Sloughter to try Leisler and his associates for 
 treason, and before a packed court and jury these alleged rebels 
 were convicted. An appeal was immediately taken to England, 
 but without waiting for action on this the death warrants of 
 Leisler and of his son-in-law, Milborne, were signed and they 
 were hanged as traitors on the present site of the New York 
 Tribune building. Four years later an English Parliament 
 legalized the acts of Leisler and thus did tardy justice to the 
 memory of a brave man who had been sacrificed to satisfy the 
 malice of his political enemies. In the administration of the 
 Earl of Bellamont, several of these men were punished for 
 various acts of misconduct while in office as councilors. 
 
26 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 Good and Bad Governors. During the next half century a 
 procession of governors moved across the stage of New York's 
 history. It is profitless to remember the names of many of 
 them, for they were either viciously corrupt, like Cornbury, or 
 hopelessly incompetent, like Cosby. Two men, however, are 
 worthy of mention because of their influence in the expansion 
 of the colony: Governor Hunter, under whose administration 
 three thousand Germans, exiles of the Palatinate, settled in 
 the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys; and Governor Burnet, 
 under whom the fur trade was extended westward. Burnet, 
 desirous of diverting to Albany and New York some of the rich 
 traffic in furs which had followed the St. Lawrence route to 
 Montreal and Quebec, established a trading post at Oswego 
 in 1722. The importance of protecting this outpost of English 
 civilization was soon apparent and Governor Burnet out of 
 his own funds built a fort there four years later. Under date 
 of May 9, 1726, he wrote to the Lords of Trade in London that 
 he had "sent up workmen to build a stone house of strength at 
 a place called Oswego — with a detachment of sixty soldiers 
 to protect the building." He also stated that there were about 
 two hundred traders at the same place. Through the building 
 of this fortified post, Burnet asserted a claim to the territory 
 and obtained a foothold on the Great Lakes. This was the 
 first serious attempt of the English to dispute with the French 
 the mastery of the Great Lakes and the control of the commerce 
 they were destined to carry. 
 
 The French were keenly alive to the value of the region. 
 They held Fort Frontenac at the entrance to the St. Lawrence, 
 and they sought to complete the control of the western traffic 
 by building in 1726 a fort on the Niagara river at the great 
 portage between Lakes Erie and Ontario. 
 
 Colonial Leaders. The period was marked by the rise to 
 positions of power in the colony of several vigorous and keen- 
 minded men. Peter Schuyler, the first mayor of Albany, was 
 one of these. He had great influence over the Indians — by 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 27 
 
 whom he was called Brother Quider — for he trusted them and 
 dealt with them honestly. Robert Livingston, a Scotchman 
 who founded Livingston Manor, and Lewis Morris of Morri- 
 sania were also leaders in the political affairs and guided the 
 thought of the colony. The descendants of these men were 
 among the great patriots who won for New York and for the 
 American colonies independence from the despotic rule of 
 George the Third. Indeed, all through the annals of our national 
 life, the names of Schuyler, Livingston, and Morris are illustrious. 
 On the other hand the DeLanceys, probably the most promi- 
 nent of the French Huguenot families of New York, were loyal- 
 ists at the time of the Revolution, although they had been in 
 colonial days influential in the affairs of the colony. 
 
 Freedom of the Press Established. A dramatic incident 
 occurred in 1734 which had far-reaching results. Supported by 
 influential friends, John Peter Zenger, an able and courageous 
 editor, had established a paper called the New York Weekly 
 Journal. In the columns of his paper he severely criticized the 
 arrogant and corrupt conduct of Governor Cosby. Cosby had 
 huTi arrested and tried for libel, but the jury acquitted him of 
 the charge. The address of Andrew Hamilton, a leader of the 
 Pennsylvania bar and Speaker of the Assembly of that colony, 
 who defended Zenger, was a lofty and courageous plea for free- 
 dom of speech and of the press. This plea, and the verdict 
 which it won, did much to establish those principles upon which 
 the rights of man and the safety of democracy are founded in 
 America. 
 
 Wars and Rumors of War. In the first three of the inter- 
 colonial wars New York bore its share of the burden and suffered 
 the usual ravages of frontier warfare. But in the final struggle 
 — a struggle which was to determine whether France or Eng- 
 land were to control the destmies of the New World — our state 
 took the foremost part. It was the key to a continent, the loss 
 of which would imperil the very existence of the colonies along 
 the Atlantic seaboard. So the British government called a 
 
28 
 
 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 colonial congress in Albany for the purpose of arranging a 
 common plan of action against the French. Here, in 1754, dele- 
 gates from New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Mary- 
 land met in conference with the Iroquois chiefs, and here Benja- 
 min Franklin, on behalf of Pennsylvania, presented a plan of 
 The plan proposed by Franklin was not acceptable 
 
 umon. 
 
 Abercromhie's I'.xpedition against Ticonderoga 
 
 This army of 15,000 troops is the largest ever afloat upon Lake George. The 
 expedition ended disastrously, the English losing 2000 in one day. Compared 
 with the splendor of his advance, Abercrombie's retreat was an ignominious flight. 
 
 either to the colonists or to the government, but it was a proph- 
 ecy of that greater union which was destined not many years 
 later to win for us our freedom. The congress adjourned after 
 making preparations for the impending struggle with France. 
 
 The events of the French and Indian War have been told 
 elsewhere in this book and need not be repeated here. The war 
 in New York had two distinct and contrasting phases: the first 
 marked by the military incompetence and lack of energy of 
 the English generals sent over to lead the campaigns, and the 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 
 
 29 
 
 second by the vigorous conduct of the war lo a successful con- 
 clusion under the guidance of a new Prime Minister, William 
 Pitt. 
 
 It brought forward a new leader in colonial affairs in the 
 person of Sir William Johnson. Johnson was a landed proprie- 
 tor in the Mohawk valley, a brave and vigorous man with great 
 influence among the Iroquois. He kept that powerful confed- 
 eracy loyal to the English, 
 defeated the French at 
 Lake George, and cap- 
 tured Fort Niagara. The 
 glory of the name of 
 Johnson was sadly 
 dimmed after his death, 
 by the cruel acts of his 
 descendants in the border 
 warfare of the Revolution. 
 
 New York emerged 
 from the French and 
 Indian War greatly ex- 
 hausted, but with a grow- 
 ing consciousness of her 
 power. Her soldiers had 
 proven themselves equal 
 to the British regulars, 
 her men had come closer 
 in contact with the men 
 
 of other colonies, the fear of French invasion was past. The 
 burdens of unjust taxation were soon to come. Here then 
 were the experiences which trained men for a new struggle 
 against tyranny. 
 
 Early Trade Routes. Before we begin the story of the Revolu- 
 tion it will be well to consider some of the early trade routes 
 in the colony. No other settlement in America was better situ- 
 ated for the development of commerce than New York. East- 
 
 FoRT Crailo 
 
 Built in 1642, and said to be the oldest build- 
 ing in the United States. It is in the city of 
 Rensselaer, directly across the Hudson river 
 from Albany. It was here that a British officer 
 composed "Yankee Doodle," while the fort 
 was the headquarters of General Abercrombie, 
 of the British army, in 1757, during the 
 French and Indian war. 
 
^o ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 ward through Long Island Sound and south along the Jersey 
 shore the coastal trade was protected. The mighty Hudson 
 was the gateway to a continent. North of this the Champlain 
 valley and to the west, the Mohawk, gave ready access to rich 
 fur-bearing regions. Along the upper reaches of the Delaware 
 and the Susquehanna fertile lands were already sparsely settled 
 by pioneer farmers who had come up from Pennsylvania or 
 across the Catskills. These settlements were doomed to a short- 
 lived existence, for they were swept away by the fierce Indian 
 raids of the Revolution. Up the river courses, the natural trade 
 routes which interlace the Empire State, and along the Iro- 
 quois trails, thoroughfares which in peace and in war the Indians 
 had traveled for centuries, sturdy pioneers pushed their way 
 and planted Kttle settlements. 
 
 Of all these routes of trade the Mohawk and the great cen- 
 tral trail of the Iroquois, extending from the Hudson to the 
 Niagara frontier, were the most important. From this main 
 highway a strategic portage route diverged at Rome, where 
 Fort StanwLx was built in the French and Indian war, and 
 extended by way of Oneida Lake and the Oswego river to 
 Lake Ontario. The military importance of this portage as a 
 route of colonial travel in the interior of America was second 
 only to the one at Niagara. Over these thoroughfares in time 
 of war, border armies hurried by; in their recesses red-skinned 
 highwaymen lurked to collect the coveted poll tax; through 
 them in time of peace long streams of immigration flowed. They 
 were filled with voyageurs and traders, explorers and missiona- 
 ries, passing to and fro on their errands of trade or of conquest. 
 
 New York in the Revolution. We do not need to go to New 
 England or to Virginia for evidence of a spirited opposition to 
 the unjust measures which the British ministry and a king- 
 controlled Parliament now sought to impose upon the Ameri- 
 can colonies. New York was foremost in asserting the rights 
 of colonial Englishmen. Again and again the leaders of her 
 assembly protested with dignity and with eloquence against 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 
 
 31 
 
 taxation by an authority outside of the colony and against any 
 interference with her colonial courts. They justly held that 
 such an autocratic assumption of authority was a violation of 
 constitutional rights. 
 
 When, therefore, a stamp tax was imposed by Parliament, 
 the issue of "taxation without representation" was met promptly 
 by New York. A committee of correspondence had been in 
 touch with similar committees in other colonies, and, at the 
 
 The Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, Oct. 17, 1777 
 The defeat of the British here was the turning point of the Revolution. 
 
 suggestion of this committee, coupled with an invitation from 
 Massachusetts, a colonial congress met in New York on Octo- 
 ber 7, 1765. This congress issued a petition to the King and a 
 declaration of rights and grievances. Its chief glory, however, 
 lies in the fact that the colonies here met for the first time by 
 their own will to join together for action against tyranny. 
 
 The repeal of the Stamp Act led to short-lived rejoicing, for 
 other oppressive measures soon followed. The stamp tax and 
 
32 
 
 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 later the so-called tea tax was met by merchants of New Y«rk 
 with non- importation agreements in which the merchants of 
 other colonies joined. Like Boston we had a "tea party" of 
 our own and dumped the hated tea into the harbor as uncere- 
 moniously as did our New England friends. 
 
 Clashes between the citizens and the British soldiers in New 
 York were not infrequent. An organization called the "Sons 
 of Liberty," which had been in existence since the days of 
 Zenger, was now most active. Liberty poles erected by these 
 
 Battle Monument at Oriskany 
 
 Here General Herkimer checked the advance of St. Leger and made possible 
 the American victory over Burgoyne. 
 
 men were cut down again and again by the soldiers, until one 
 bound with iron was raised. This pole remained standing 
 until after the capture of the city in the Revolution. The 
 "battle" of Golden Hill, in John Street on January i8, 1770, 
 between the "Sons of Liberty" and the troops showed the 
 temper of the people. It was only a street brawl, but in it, 
 two months before the Boston massacre, the blood of Ameri- 
 cans was shed. Secretly and openly the spirit of freedom 
 spread. Men began to train in military companies. Young 
 Hamilton, a student of King's College, formed among the stu- 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 
 
 33 
 
 dents there an organization called the " Hearts of Oak," with 
 the motto "Freedom or Death." Party lines began to be 
 sharply drawn. On the one side were the Tories, composed of 
 some of the wealthier merchants and landed proprietors, men 
 who hesitated to break the ties which bound the colony to the 
 mother country; on the other were the Patriots, the most 
 radical of whom were already looking forward eagerly to com- 
 plete independence. When the New York Assembly under 
 
 The Long Room in Fraunces Tavern, New York City 
 
 Here Washington bade farewell to his Generals at the close of the Revolution, 
 
 December 4, 1783. 
 
 Tory influence failed to represent public opinion, the people 
 took matters into their own hands and formed a provincial 
 congress. This body was the governing power in the colony 
 until New York became an independent state. 
 
 Thus the curtain rose upon the mighty drama of the Revolu- 
 tion. In this drama New York played a brave but tragic part. 
 She was worthily represented in the halls of Congress by men 
 like Livingston, Morris, and Jay and on the field of battle by 
 Schuyler and Clinton. Her frontier settlements were ravaged 
 
34 
 
 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 by Tory and Indian raids, and the City of New York was sub- 
 ject to the severities of British mihtary rule. Yet at Saratoga 
 and at Oriskany the patriot farmers turned back the tide of 
 invasion; in the midst of the turmoil and horrors of war the 
 people formed a state government, and, in 1777, adopted a 
 constitution. 
 
 New York an Independent Nation. From this time until 
 the United States was formed. New York was an independent 
 state leagued together with the other states in a loose confedera- 
 tion. Her first Governor was George Clinton, whose influence 
 
 and popularity were 
 shown by his succes- 
 sive elections to that 
 ofhce until 1795. The 
 legislature was a mi- 
 gratory body. Driven 
 from New York by the 
 coming of the British, 
 it met at difTerent 
 times in Pouglikeepsie, 
 in Kingston, and in 
 New York until the 
 capital was finally lo- 
 cated in Albany. 
 During the critical period from 1783 to 1789 the industry 
 and commerce of New York flourished, often at the expense 
 of the other states. This may explain her indifference toward 
 the movement which culminated in the formation of a Federal 
 government. The only representative from New York in the 
 Constitutional Convention of 1787 who was in S3rmpathy with 
 its work or whose opinion carried much weight, was Alexander 
 Hamilton. When the constitution was adopted he hurried 
 back to New York to begin the fight for its acceptance by this 
 state. Opposed to him was the powerful Governor, George 
 Clinton, as the leader of those who believed in the doctrine of 
 
 Efifij '-^ 
 
 - 
 
 % 
 
 i 
 
 P 
 
 
 
 W»^:- 
 
 
 r "^ 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 ^ 
 
 irr t 
 
 ..^„..,„!/r'^ 
 
 ^W 
 
 Old Senate House at Kingston, N. Y. 
 
 The first constitution of the State was adopted here 
 April 20, 1777. 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 35 
 
 state rights. But in the Federalist Papers, written jointly by 
 Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, the advantages to be gained by 
 a stronger centralized government were so clearly and so elo- 
 quently presented that the people were convinced. 
 
 A convention, which was called at Poughkeepsie in 1788, after 
 recommending the addition of amendments which should more 
 exphcitly protect the rights of the states, adopted the Federal 
 constitution. Thus New York, by its own act, ceased to exist 
 as an independent republic and became a part of a greater 
 Nation. 
 
 The Federal government chose New York City as its tem- 
 porary capital and here, on the steps of Federal Hall, at the 
 corner of Wall and Broad Streets, General George Washington, 
 with solemn pomp and ceremony, was inaugurated as the first 
 President of the United States of America. 
 
 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 
 
 1. Give an account of the principal events in the governorship of Dongan. 
 
 2. TeU. the story of the so-caUed Leislerian rebellion. 
 
 3. Show in what ways the English governors sought to control the fur 
 trade within the territory claimed by the English. 
 
 4. Give an account of the Zenger trial and show its importance in our 
 later history. 
 
 5. On a map of New York trace the more important of the early trade 
 routes. 
 
 6. How did the early settlers live? Wliat were some of their dangers 
 and difficulties? 
 
 7. What measures did the colonists of New York adopt in opposition to 
 the policies of George the Third? 
 
 8. From what parts of Europe did the immigrants come principally 
 during this century and where did they settle in this state? 
 
 9. Why did not the weakness of the confederated government concern 
 New York directly and how was she finally persuaded to ratify the 
 federal Constitution? 
 
36 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING 
 
 1. Fiske: "The Dutch and Quaker Colonies," Vol. II. 
 
 2. Fiske: "New France and New England," Chapter IX. 
 
 3. Fiske: "The American Revolution," Vol. I, Chapters V-VII; Vol. 
 II, Chapter XI. 
 
 4. WUliams: "Stories from Early New York History." 
 
 5. Griffis: "The Story of New Netherland." 
 
 6. Foote and Skinner: "Explorers and Founders of America." 
 
 7. Foote and Skinner: "Makers and Defenders of America." 
 
 8. Earle: " Colonial Days in Old New York." 
 
 9. Roberts: "New York," Vol. I. 
 
 10. Home: "History of New York." 
 
 11. Cooper: "The Spy." 
 
 12. Frederic: "In the Valley." 
 
 13. Barr: "The Bow of Orange Ribbon." 
 
 14. Chambers: " Cardigan." 
 
A CENTURY OF PROGRESS 
 
 We come now to the story of that remarkable growth in 
 population and in resources which has made our Common- 
 wealth the greatest state of the Union. It began, of course, 
 with the commerce of New York City and the westward exten- 
 sion of frontier settlements. It developed with the growth of 
 agriculture, with the rise of manufacturingjndustries, and with 
 the development of means of transportation. 
 
 Land Grants. The close of the Revolution opened the interior 
 of the state for settlement. The power of the Iroquois Con- 
 federacy had been broken, for they had, with the exception of 
 a part of the Oneidas, sided with the English and had been 
 sternly punished by General Sullivan in his expedition into the 
 Seneca country. Many revolutionary soldiers had received 
 land bounties and, taking up claims on these, had cleared little 
 farms. The state was prodigal with its undeveloped resources, 
 for it sold vast tracts to land speculators for mere pittances. 
 An illustration of this is the MacComb purchase of more than 
 three and one half million acres of land, for a large part of which 
 MacComb paid at the rate of eight pence an acre. A much 
 worthier gift, one in which we should take pride, was the gener- 
 ous cession in 1780 to the confederated government of New 
 York's interest in the northwest territory. We had the honor 
 of being the first of the states to surrender our rights to this 
 territory. Massachusetts and Virginia voted against the ac- 
 ceptance of this gift, but the force of public opinion led them 
 later to surrender also their claim to the same region. 
 
 Massachusetts also had a shadowy claim to western New 
 York based upon her royal charter. By a compromise she was 
 allowed to purchase a vast tract in this part of the state from 
 the Iroquois. From this she sold about 200,000 acres between 
 the Oswego and Chenango rivers and 6,000,000 acres in the 
 Seneca Lake country and the valley of the Genesee to Phelps 
 
 37 
 
38 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 and Gorham. This rich country passed later into the hands 
 of the Holland Land Company, which extended its holdings 
 to the Niagara frontier. The development of this section in 
 the last fifteen years of the eighteenth century led to a tide 
 of western emigration along the central Indian trail, the 
 ancient highway of the Iroquois. In 1794 the "Great Genesee 
 Road" was chartered by the legislature and was extended from 
 Whitestown to Geneva. In 1798 it was built through to Buffalo, 
 where Joseph Ellicott, as agent of the Holland Land Company, 
 had surveyed a city site. We can trace the successive waves 
 of western emigration by the names of places along the New 
 York Central Railroad: Amsterdam and Herkimer mark the 
 peaceful invasion of the sturdy Dutch and Palatine farmers 
 who settled the Mohawk valley; Whitestown, Auburn, and 
 Rochester, the stern New Englanders who found broad acres and 
 fertile fields awaiting them in central and western New York. 
 How swiftly this tide flowed is shown by the fact that in 1820 
 Ontario, Genesee, and Oneida were the second, third, and 
 fourth counties in population, whereas thirty years before they 
 had been almost unbroken wildernesses. 
 
 The Rise of New Parties. The first of the nineteenth century 
 marks the beginning in this state of the decline of the Federalist 
 party. Its leaders had been powerful factors in the building of 
 the nation. Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury had estab- 
 lished our national credit. John Jay, a man of pure character 
 and lofty ideals, had successfully negotiated a wise, but at first 
 an unpopular treaty with Great Britain, and Gouverneur Morris 
 had represented the United States with honor abroad. 
 
 In state affairs, however, the new Democratic-Republican 
 party was rapidly coming into prominence. It might also have 
 been called the Clintonian party, for it was for years domi- 
 nated by George Clinton and his nephew DeWitt Clinton. 
 Allied with these was the powerful Livingston family, Aaron 
 Burr, and the war governor of 181 2, Daniel D. Tompkins. It 
 was a time of bitter personal rivalries, one of which cul- 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 
 
 39 
 
40 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 minated in the tragic death of Hamilton at the hands of the 
 selfish Burr. 
 
 The War of 1812. In 1812 New York was again called upon 
 to bear the burden of a war with Great Britain. The navy of 
 England was at first so occupied with the war with France 
 that there was little danger of hostile attacks along the Atlantic 
 seaboard. But the frontier of New York, from Niagara to 
 Oswego, Sacketts Harbor and the St. Lawrence border, was 
 easily open to invasion from Canada. For this reason many 
 of the land battles and inland naval engagements of the war 
 were fought within the limits of this state. Lake Ontario was 
 the scene of naval activity. Here with great difficulty, since 
 most of the equipment had to be transported overland from 
 the Hudson, but with an energy and determination that ma^ 
 be envied to-da}^, a respectable fleet was built and manned. 
 
 But the most brilliant alYair of the war in this state was the 
 defeat of a British invasion along the war-worn Champlain 
 route. Here, on September 11, 1814, in a naval engagement off 
 Plattsburg, Commodore MacDonough utterly routed a stronger 
 English fleet. On land General Prevost, with 15,000 veteran 
 troops, was opposed by MacComb with 3000 regulars and an 
 equal number of militia from New York and Vermont. The 
 defeat of his supporting naval force compelled Prevost to re- 
 treat. Like Burgoyne, he failed, checked by the bravery and 
 devotion of Americans. 
 
 The Rise of Manufacturing Industries. Although the War 
 of 18 1 2 severely taxed the resources of New York, it had an 
 indirect and unexpectedly beneficial effect upon her industries. 
 Shut off from European trade by the embargo and later by 
 the war. New York was forced, together with the other states, 
 to manufacture her own goods. The introduction of machinery 
 driven by water power or by steam led to the building of found- 
 ries and factories, and these spread rapidly. The beginnings 
 of the great textile industries were made. The industrial revo- 
 lution of Europe found root here also, and although the pros- 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 41 
 
 perity of our manufacturing industries was temporarily checked 
 by an influx of European goods at the close of the war, we have 
 grown to be the greatest of the states in the variety and value 
 of our manufactured products. 
 
 Problems of Transportation. Manufactured goods and prod- 
 ucts of the farm are of only local value unless they can be 
 readily exchanged. The problems of transportation, therefore, 
 were matters of public interest. We have seen how the water- 
 ways were in early days the natural highways of trade and of 
 travel. But the canoe and the batteau were too slow, and 
 men were seeking some faster means of water travel. As early 
 as 1789 Fitch and Rumsey were experimenting on the Potomac 
 and the Delaware with steam-driven boats. Their attempts 
 attracted the attention of Chancellor Livingston and later of 
 Robert Fulton. At last Fulton succeeded in solving the prob- 
 lem, and on August 7, 1807, the dream of steam navigation 
 came true. On that day his boat, the Clermont, started under 
 her own power that historic voyage from New York to Albany, 
 one hundred and fifty miles away, where she arrived thirty- 
 two hours later. Ten years later a steamboat was regularly 
 plying on the waters of Lake Ontario. 
 
 Private enterprise also engaged in the building of toll roads. 
 The success of the Genesee road led to other chartered turn- 
 pikes, so that by 1808 there were a thousand miles of them 
 within the state. 
 
 The Erie Canal. A still more ambitious project was now 
 conceived. After the Revolution, Washington, in visiting the 
 interior of the state, foresaw the vast possibilities of its water- 
 ways. Before the end of the century, locks had been built 
 around the rapids of the Mohawk and a canal at Fort Stanwix 
 connected that river with the head waters of Oneida Lake. But 
 the opening to settlement of the rich lands of western New 
 York and the need which the War of 181 2 had shown of a means 
 of intercommunication between the East and the West led to 
 the building by the state of the Erie Canal. In this great under- 
 
42 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 taking Governor DeWitt Clinton was the prime mover. Started 
 at Rome in 1817, it was completed from Lake Erie to the 
 Hudson, a distance of 363 miles, in 1825. 
 
 JVEW LIME 
 
 npHE subscribers inform the public, that they have established a line 
 
 of STAOE BOATS, to ply between this city and Utica, for the accommodation of pas- 
 sengers from the latter place, and to carry up such valuable articles of merchandize, &c. as 
 require the utmost care and dispatch. One Boat will leave Utica every Monday and Wednesday 
 morning, and Schenectady every Wednesday and Friday morning. For passage at Utica, ap- 
 ply to A. Van Santvoord & Co. 
 
 THE OLD LINE CONTINUED, 
 
 From Schenectady for Oswego, Cayuga, and Seneca Falls. One Boat will 
 
 satrt regularly every Saturday, during the season. Goods received between Saturday and 
 Tuesday evening, to be forwarded beyond Utica, will be put on board the Slaye Boat ofWed- 
 nesday morning, and will overtake the Saturday's boat, at Utica, where they will be put on 
 board and forwarded as directed. 
 
 Wagons will, as heretofore, be kept in constant readiness to transport 
 
 from the city of Albany to Schenectady, or any part of the United States and Canada. Gen- 
 tlemen who reside at a distance from the water communication are informed, that their goods 
 will be delivered from the boats at any place they may think proper to designate ; and at the 
 Seneca Falls, to avoid delays, wagons are provided to convey the property, if required, to its 
 place of destination. 
 
 The subscribers consider themselves the actual carriers, and responsi- 
 ble for all property passing through their bands, unavoidable accidents excepted. 
 
 Eri Jjusher & Co. 
 
 Schenectady, May 1, 1815. 
 
 RICGS t iTEVEKS, Prmliri—SAauclady. 
 
 Advertisement of Old Canal Line 
 
 It brought the resources of the West and the wares of the 
 East together. The abundant crops of wheat raised on the 
 fertile lands of western New York now found a ready market 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 43 
 
 at the Atlantic seaboard. Before this the cost of transportation 
 had been so excessive that it was said that the returns from 
 an acre of wheat would buy only a pair of breeches. The suc- 
 cess of the Erie project encouraged the state to embark upon a 
 policy of connecting it with other waterways of the state. A 
 series of canals were built, among which the Oswego, the Black 
 River and the Champlain were most important. But with the 
 coming of the railroads they ceased to be commercially profit- 
 able and most of them have long since been abandoned. The 
 Erie was used not only for freight but also for passenger traffic. 
 On its placid surface and along its picturesque route travelers 
 could take long journeys more comfortably than in the stage 
 coaches of that day. 
 
 These artificial waterways fostered the growth of cities along 
 their routes and so materially helped toward the upbuilding of 
 our commerce. 
 
 The Era of Railroads. The next step forward in solving the 
 problem of transportation was the building of railroads. The 
 first line in this state was between Albany and Schenectady in 
 1831. Then the Erie was started in 1836 and in 1851 had ex- 
 tended its Hnes to Dunkirk on Lake Erie. The New York Cen- 
 tral came slowly into being through the consolidation of many 
 smaller lines connecting the cities of the state. 
 
 Thus the Indian trails and waterways, the turnpikes, the 
 canals, the steamboats, and the railroads mark successive 
 stages in the development of transportation in this state. 
 
 The Birth of New Parties. During nearly forty years of 
 the first part of the nineteenth century the Democratic party 
 controlled the policies of the state. Its great leader, DeWitt 
 Clinton, died in 1828, but under the adroit management of 
 Martin Van Buren and the inner circle of politicians known 
 as the Albany regency, its sway was almost absolute. One of 
 its ablest men was William L. Marcy, who, as governor of the 
 state and as Secretary of State in the national government, 
 rendered distinguished service to the country. 
 
44 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 But the Whig party, as heirs to the principles of the old 
 Federalists, was coming to be an important factor in national 
 affairs. The effects of the financial panic which swept the coun- 
 try in 1837 was felt severely in New York. This, together with 
 a reaction against the autocratic political methods of the Albany 
 regency, carried the Whigs into power. They controlled the 
 legislature in 1837 and in 1838 elected as governor William H. 
 Seward of Auburn. Seward was destined to play a dominant 
 part in the affairs of the nation. As the champion of the cause 
 of anti-slavery, as a Whig leader, and later as a founder of the 
 Republican party, and as a loyal member of Lincoln's cabinet, 
 he was one of the greatest statesmen which our commonwealth 
 has produced. 
 
 Political changes came rapidly in the next twenty years. Old 
 political affiliations were broken and new ones formed. The 
 addition of vast western tracts at the close of the Mexican war 
 awakened the dormant slavery question. Party strife ran 
 high. Factional differences which centered around the per- 
 sonality of Governor Silas Wright arose among the Democrats. 
 The ''barnburners" were his friends and the "hunkers" his 
 political enemies. 
 
 The Whigs, as a national party, temporized on the issue of 
 slavery and so alienated many of their northern friends. The 
 shifting mass of public opinion, part Whig and part Democratic, 
 joined first the free-soil movement and then the American or 
 " Know-Nothing " party until at last a new party, clearcut and 
 positive in its convictions regarding a lofty moral principle, 
 came into existence. This was the Republican party and to 
 its hands was intrusted for many years the destiny of state and 
 nation. 
 
 Early Literary Activity. Although New England has been 
 generally regarded as the literary center of America, New York 
 was the first to produce writers of more than national fame. 
 Washington Irving, as our first great essayist, and James Feni- 
 more Cooper, as our first great novelist, won recognition both 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 45 
 
 at home and abroad in the field of letters. In this creative age 
 of American literature, a group of young poets and essayists 
 was formed with Irving as its central figure. Paulding, Drake, 
 and Fitz-Greene Halleck were the most conspicuous of this 
 group, and under their great leader they set the literary fashions 
 of the age. 
 
 The democratic spirit of Thomas Paine, — who wrote vigor- 
 ous and daring political pamphlets during the Revolution, — the 
 genius of Poe and the art of Bryant may be claimed for our 
 state, although they were not natives of New York. 
 
 The Struggle for the Union. The decade from 1850 to i860 
 was marked by a rapidly widening chasm between the North 
 and the South. A majority in New York believed that slavery 
 was morally wrong and that this institution ought not to be 
 allowed to extend its evil influence beyond its present bounda- 
 ries. A radical minority, however, argued for the abolition 
 of slave labor. They spoke of an irrepressible conflict and of 
 a law higher than the constitution. Men like Gerritt Smith 
 aided in the evasion of fugitive slave laws and helped the work 
 of the underground railroads. 
 
 The mills of the state, on the other hand, were dependent 
 upon the South for their supply of cotton, and the merchants 
 of New York City had extensive trade with the South. They 
 were loath to see these commercial relations disturbed. But 
 the election of Lincoln to the Presidency, the secession of the 
 southern states, and the attack upon Fort Sumter united 
 public opinion, and the state sprang to the defense of the Union. 
 
 New York's share in the Civil War is a glorious one. From 
 every city and hamlet and farm the best of our American blood 
 responded to the call to arms. In the battle of Bull Run we 
 furnished two fifths of the troops and suffered two fifths of the 
 losses, and in the whole war a half million of our men were 
 actively engaged. 
 
 A lawless element in our cities, aided by ignorant foreigners, 
 however, opposed the enforcement of the Draft Act. Riots 
 
46 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 broke out in July of 1863 — the same month in which the 
 victories of Vicksburg and Gettysburg were won — and were 
 suppressed only by stern measures. More than a thousand 
 lives were uselessly sacrificed in New York City during these 
 days of mob rule. The steadfastness and sobriety with which 
 we met the demand for universal service in 191 7 is in marked 
 contrast to the dark days of '63. 
 
 These evidences of lawlessness in the cities did not indicate 
 any general sentiment in favor of the southern cause. A deep 
 underlying sentiment of loyalty pervaded the state as a whole, 
 and with steadfastness of purpose the people pressed forward 
 toward a successful conclusion of the war. 
 
 liidustrial Growth. The close of the Civil War left the state 
 reduced in population and in resources. But the growth of the 
 transportation system, linking the East with the West, the 
 marvelous development of New York's manufacturing indus- 
 tries, and the rise of the West as a great food-producing region 
 for the markets of the East, restored this state to its position of 
 supremacy in industry and in commerce. This industrial and 
 commercial growth encouraged the shifting of our population 
 toward our cities and led to the complex problems of city life. 
 
 Before the public conscience was aroused, corruption in the 
 governments of some of our cities was not uncommon. The 
 erection of municipal buildings and public works, the granting 
 of franchises to street railroads and lighting companies and even 
 the regulation of crime, were made the occasions of graft on 
 the part of dishonest politicians. 
 
 The Tweed Ring. The most flagrant example of this was in 
 the activities of the so-called "Tweed Ring" in New York. 
 This ring, under the leadership of "Boss" Tweed, is said to 
 have defrauded the city, in the early '70's, of over $100,000,000. 
 It was overthrown through the expose in the New York Times, 
 and Samuel J. Tilden, who prosecuted the criminal cases against 
 its members, rose to national prominence and became a candi- 
 date for the presidency. 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 47 
 
 Political Changes. A split in the Republican party caused 
 by the opposition of Senators Conkling and Piatt of New York 
 to the policies of President Garfield in 1880-81 had far-reaching 
 results. The "Stalwarts" supported these Senators, while the 
 "Half-breeds" were loyal to the National Republican adminis- 
 tration. This lack of unity in the Republican party restored 
 the Democrats to power in the state, and their governor, Grover 
 Cleveland, was later elected President. 
 
 In more recent years, Theodore Roosevelt, who had been 
 governor of the state, became President through the assassina- 
 tion of McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. 
 He served a second term and then was the foremost leader of 
 the new Progressive party and was its defeated presidential 
 candidate. Both Cleveland and Roosevelt were fearless and 
 independent leaders in the administration of their high offices. 
 
 Progress in Inventions. In the industrial growth of America, 
 inventions developed or perfected in New York have played a 
 large part. Closely following the application of steam to trans- 
 portation on water and on land came a new means of com- 
 munication. Joseph Henry, a teacher in the Albany Academy 
 for Boys, experimented in the transmission of sound by elec- 
 tricity through wires. This was the basis of the invention of the 
 telegraph by Samuel F. B. Morse, a professor in New York 
 University. In 1845 the New York, Albany, and Buffalo Tele- 
 graph Company was formed, with headquarters in Utica. This 
 was the first magnetic telegraph company in the world, but 
 it was not long before a network of wires was spread across the 
 land. Then came the successful laying, in 1866, of an Atlantic 
 cable. The credit for this great enterprise belongs to Cyrus W. 
 Field, a merchant prince of New York City. In financing 
 this venture he was aided by Peter Cooper, a manufacturer of 
 that city and the founder of an institution devoted to industrial 
 education known in his honor as Cooper Union. 
 
 The Monitor, an ironclad designed by John Ericsson, a native 
 of Sweden, was built in one hundred days at Greenpoint, across 
 
48 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 the East River from New York, and marked the beginning of 
 a new era in naval warfare. 
 
 The processes of producing paper in vast quantities from 
 pulp wood have been largely developed in our state. Northern 
 New York is said to supply one fourth of all the news print 
 used in America. The great newspapers of to-day are made 
 possible because of this supply of paper and because of the 
 Hoe press, invented by Richard Hoe and perfected by his son. 
 
 The manufacture of typewriters and of photographic instru- 
 ments has largely centered in the cities of the state, because 
 the men who were responsible for the remarkable growth of 
 these industries have been citizens of this state. 
 
 The Influence of the Press. The newspaper is a potent fac- 
 tor in molding public opinion. In this respect four of the 
 metropolitan journals of to-day have had a long and usually 
 honorable career. The Evening Post, founded in 1801, had 
 as its editor for fifty years the poet William Cullen Bryant. 
 The New York Sun, founded in 1833, attained distinction under 
 the brilliant leadership of Charles A. Dana. Horace Greeley, 
 as the editor of the Tribune, founded in 1841, through the 
 vigor of his unique personality wielded a remarkable influence 
 throughout the North during the Civil War and the reconstruc- 
 tion period. The New York Times, founded in 185 1, was in- 
 strumental in the exposure and punishment of the Tweed Ring 
 in New York City. The cartoons of Nast, published in the 
 Times and in Harper's Weekly also contributed toward the 
 awakening of the public conscience. 
 
 In recent years weekly magazines like Colliers, The Outlook, 
 and The Independent have exerted a wholesome influence upon 
 civic life. In their field, also, the Century, Scribners, and Har- 
 pers magazines have been representative of the best American 
 thought. Many of the novels and essays of J. G. Holland 
 appeared in Scribners while he was its editor. 
 
 New York in Literature. Great writers belong to no state 
 or nation. Their work is the inspiration of all. It is perhaps 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 49 
 
 not fair, therefore, to claim as a product of New York all the 
 men and women who have come to the great city to market 
 their wares. William D. Howells, the dean of American letters, 
 Walt Whitman, and Edwin Markham, the poets of democracy, 
 and George William Curtis are among those who have been at 
 times residents of New York. 
 
 John Burroughs, the genial essayist of nature; William 
 Winter, the dramatic critic; and Theodore Roosevelt, whose 
 vigorous pen sets high ideals for our common life, are represen- 
 tative of the newer school of prose writers who have brought 
 honor to our state. 
 
 The Women of New York. Among the women of New York 
 who have distinguished themselves in literature or in public 
 service, it is possible to mention only a few. Emma Willard 
 may justly be named first, for she was a pioneer in securing 
 higher education for women. In 182 1 she established the Troy 
 Female Seminary and trained there many teachers for the 
 schools of the South and West. She found text-books inade- 
 quate, so wrote a number for use in her school. She was a 
 woman of marked executive ability and of great powers of 
 mind. Through the munificence of Mrs. Russell Sage the 
 Emma Willard School has been established as a continuation 
 of the Troy Female Seminary, and it is now one of the leading 
 preparatory schools for girls in America. 
 
 Vassar College, for the higher education of women, was 
 founded at Poughkeepsie in 1865. Similar institutions are 
 Wells College at Aurora and Elmira College at Elmira, while 
 the great Universities of the state, Columbia, New York, Cor- 
 nell, and Syracuse, are open to women as well as to men. Syra- 
 cuse, especially, is a pioneer in the training of women for the 
 profession of medicine. 
 
 Frances Willard, the great leader in temperance reform, was 
 born in New York and was at one time preceptress of the Gene- 
 see Wesleyan Seminary at Lima. 
 
 Among the leaders in the movement for equal suffrage in 
 
50 
 
 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 this state were Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, 
 and, more recently, Mary Garrett Hay. 
 
 The poets Alice and Phoebe Gary, although natives of Ohio, 
 lived the last twenty years of their lives in New York. Mary 
 Mapes Dodge, as editor of St. Nicholas, has brought joy to 
 thousands of boys and girls. 
 
 New York City, from the Hudson River 
 
 Great Engineering Feats. The marvelous growth of the city 
 of New York and the geographical limitations of Manhattan 
 Island in the last twenty years have necessitated the building 
 of great engineering works unsurpassed by any similar structures 
 in other great cities of the world. The most conspicuous ex- 
 amples of these are the subways, which provide for rapid 
 transportation underground, and the system of reservoirs and 
 aqueducts which supply from the great Ashoken reservoir in 
 the Gatskills an abundance of pure water. 
 
 The barge canal, now rapidly nearing completion, at a cost 
 to the state of New York of about $150,000,000, links the sea- 
 board with the Great Lakes. It follows in part the Mohawk 
 river and the route of the old Erie Canal and has branch lines 
 reaching to Lakes Champlain, Ontario, Cayuga, and Seneca. 
 The whole system includes 440 miles of artificial waterways 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 51 
 
 and 350 miles of lakes and rivers, or 790 miles in all. Each 
 lock will hold a single boat of 2000 tons capacity or two boats 
 of 1 500 tons each. Vessels 1 50 feet in length can be operated on 
 the canal, and it is estimated that ten million tons of freight 
 can be transported through the system in a single season. 
 
 Recent Progress. New York has in recent years moved 
 steadily forward. The corruption of the Tweed Ring and simi- 
 lar cliques, broken by an aroused civic conscience, has led to a 
 more active interest in public affairs, and our city governments 
 are generally conducted on a higher plane. 
 
 In the conservation and development of natural resources, 
 in the variety of soil and products, in the application of elec- 
 tricity to industrial processes, and in the growth of commerce, 
 our state has taken foremost rank. Our merchants have ven- 
 tures on every sea and in every land. Our barge canal, our 
 state highways, and our railroad systems have supplied us with 
 unequaled transportation facilities and so have contributed 
 materially to our prosperity. New York City has become the 
 center of the financial interests of the country as well as the 
 chief gateway to the continent. 
 
 The diverse currents that have run into the population of 
 city and state have made New York cosmopolitan. The union 
 of strains of blood and character which marked the colonial 
 period, when Dutch and English, Scotch and French, fused into 
 Americans, again is called upon to assimilate other peoples from 
 the south and east of Europe and to make them also into loyal 
 citizens of our state and nation. We who are citizens of this 
 imperial commonwealth, feel just pride in its record, and we 
 would bequeath this pride and a sense of loyalty and of honest 
 service to the citizens of to-morrow, the boys and girls of the 
 Empire State. 
 
52 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 
 
 1 . Compare early methods of travel in New York with modern methods. 
 
 2. Give an account of the settlement of western New York. 
 
 3. What was New York's share in the War of 181 2 ? 
 
 4. Write an account of the building of the Erie Canal and compare this 
 canal with the Barge Canal. 
 
 5. What were the political parties in New York during the first half of 
 the nineteenth century and who were the principal leaders of each? 
 
 6. Give an account of literary activity in this state. 
 
 7. Who are some of the noted women in the history of New York? 
 
 8. Give an account of the public services of each of the following: 
 Alexander Hamilton, DeWitt Clinton, William H. Seward, Grover 
 Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
 9. Show the relation of either the physical resources or of the industrial 
 life of this state to its present prosperity. 
 
 ID. How do you account for the phenomenal growth of New York City 
 in a single century? 
 
 11. What were the effects of the building of railroads and of improved 
 highways on the internal development of New York state? 
 
 12. How has New York distinguished itself in inventions, in literature, 
 in finance, in civic life? 
 
 REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING 
 
 1. Roberts: "New York," Vol. II. 
 
 2. Williams: "New York's Part in History." 
 
 3. Rhodes: "The United States," Vols. I- VI. 
 
 4. Cofifin: "Building the Nation." 
 
 5. Foote and Skinner: "Makers and Defenders of America." 
 
 6. Home: " History of New York." 
 
 7. Atherton: "The Conqueror." 
 
 8. Fiske: "Critical Period of American History," pages 340-345. 
 
 9. Redway: "The Making of the Empire State." 
 
 10. Mowry: "American Inventions and Inventors." 
 
 11. Brigham: "From Trail to Railway." 
 
 12. Hulbert: "Pioneer Roads," Vol ii. 
 
State Capitol Building, Albany 
 
 HOW THE STATE IS GOVERNED 
 
 The State Older than the Nation. The first constitution of 
 New York State was adopted in 1777. The state existed, there- 
 fore, as an independent repubHc for more than ten years, bound 
 only by its membership in the league of states formed under the 
 Articles of Confederation. But since the weak central govern- 
 ment, through its Continental Congresses, could not enforce its 
 demands, each state was sovereign within its own borders. When, 
 however, the State of New York, through its representatives 
 assembled in convention at Poughkeepsie, adopted the Federal 
 constitution on July 25, 1788, it ceased to be an independent 
 nation and became an integral part of the United States. 
 
 Relation of the State to the Federal Government. The 
 United States is a government of delegated powers. In other 
 words it has only those powers which the several states volun- 
 tarily surrendered to it. Therefore the Federal constitution 
 in one section says that "the United States shall guarantee to 
 every state in this Union a republican form of government" 
 
 53 
 
54 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 and In another section that ''the powers not delegated to the 
 United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the 
 states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." 
 
 So we live under the jurisdiction of two distinct institutions, 
 state and national, each working together harmoniously for 
 the good of the people. The state does the things that the 
 nation cannot do. The two sets of laws do not conflict. The 
 state and municipal laws supplement those of the central gov- 
 ernment. Consequently it is important that the youth of New 
 York State know how their state and communities are governed 
 and what the relation of each is to their daily Ufe. 
 
 The State Constitution. The constitution of the state is the 
 fundamental law. It is a written document guaranteeing, as 
 does the Federal constitution, personal liberty, security of prop- 
 erty, and providing a system of administration which consists 
 of three separate departments, executive, legislative, and judicial. 
 It differs from the Federal constitution in that it is not perma- 
 nent. We have had but one Federal constitution, which can be 
 changed only by amendment, while our state has now its fourth. 
 
 The fundamental principle underlying each of these four 
 have remained practically the same, but the minor provisions 
 have changed to respond to new conditions which have de- 
 veloped with the growth of the state. A state constitution is 
 a guide to the administration of matters affecting the welfare 
 of the people who must live under it and so must contain many 
 intimate local features. 
 
 How Our Constitution is Made. In our state the constitu- 
 tions have been adopted by representatives elected by the 
 voters of the state. These men form what is known as a con- 
 stitutional convention. After they have completed their work 
 the constitution is referred to the voters of the state, who 
 decide whether it is to be adopted or rejected. 
 
 Who May Vote. Who are the voters of the state to whom we 
 have referred? Every man and woman twenty-one years of age 
 or older who has been a citizen of the United States for ninety 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 55 
 
 days and who has lived in the state one year, in the county 
 four months, and in the election district thirty days may vote 
 at all elections, unless disqualified because of crime or of mental 
 deficiency. 
 
 Actual Government 
 
 The Legislature. If you were to visit our state capital at 
 Albany you would doubtless go first to our capitol building, in 
 which are housed most of the departments of our government. 
 In one wing of this building you would find a number of men en- 
 gaged in making the laws of the state. ■ This is the Assembly. In 
 the opposite wing of the building you would find a smaller body 
 of men, also occupied with the same business. This is the Senate. 
 These two chambers, as they are called, form the State Legislature. 
 
 The Assembly. The number of assemblymen is fixed by the 
 constitution at one hundred fifty. These men are elected for 
 a term of one year by the vote of the qualified electors of each 
 assembly district. The presiding officer of the Assembly is the 
 Speaker, who is chosen from among the members at the first 
 day's meeting of the annual session. The Speaker has great 
 power, for he appoints the standing committees, of which there 
 are about thirty, and it is in the meetings of these committees 
 that most of the work of the session is carried On. 
 
 The Senate. The Senate is composed of fifty-one members, 
 apportioned also by population and chosen by the electors in 
 the senatorial districts for a term of two years. The Lieutenant 
 Governor is the ex-officio presiding officer of the Senate, but, 
 unlike the Speaker of the Assembly, has no vote except in case 
 of a tie. 
 
 The Annual Session. The Legislature meets every year on 
 the first Wednesday in January. The length of the session is 
 not limited, but it usually adjourns in April. 
 
 How Our Laws are Made. If you were a rnember of the 
 Legislature and desired to have a certain measure enacted as a 
 law, you would present the measure in the form of a bill. A 
 legislative bill may be introduced- in either house. It is then 
 
56 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 read and referred to the proper committee, where its merits 
 are considered at private sittings of the committee or at pubHc 
 hearings, where friends or opponents of the measure may 
 appear and be heard. The committee may "kill" the bill by 
 not reporting it. If, however, they approve of the measure 
 they report it to that branch of the legislature which they 
 represent. A bill must have three readings. Each reading, 
 except in an emergency, must be on different days. After the 
 third reading it is debated in the house until the " previous 
 question" is called for. This closes the debate and a vote is 
 taken. If it is passed by a majority of the members of the 
 house in which it originated, it is sent to the other house. Here 
 it passes through the same process as in the first. To become a 
 law it must either have the signature of the governor, or, if he 
 refuses to sign it, be returned to the house in which it origi- 
 nated, with his objections. If it then receives a two thirds 
 vote of both houses it becomes a law without his signature, 
 or if the governor fails to sign it or to return it within ten days 
 it nevertheless becomes a law. However, after the final ad- 
 journment of the legislature this procedure does not hold. 
 After this adjournment all unsigned measures remaining in 
 the hands of the governor at the end of thirty days are 
 automatically killed. 
 
 Special city laws follow a somewhat different procedure. 
 Such laws, before they become operative, have to be referred to 
 the city or cities concerned to be considered by the mayor 
 alone in cities of the first class and by the mayor and common 
 council in all other cities. 
 
 These city officials have fifteen days in which they may 
 approve or disapprove the measure. If approved the bill fol- 
 lows the usual course of other bills and goes to the governor; 
 if not approved the legislature may repass the bill and send it 
 to the governor for his signature or veto. 
 
 The object of this provision is to give to the cities some opportu- 
 nity to be heard with respect to legislation affecting their interests. 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 57 
 
 The Taxing Power. In order to meet the current expenses 
 of government, to provide for public improvements, to care 
 for the wards of the state and to support education, it becomes 
 necessary to raise money by taxation. The taxing power is 
 vested in the legislature, and all the business with which the 
 state is concerned is supported by the exercise of this power. 
 The raising of revenues by means of taxes is perhaps the most 
 important function of the legislature, for without money most 
 governmental activities would cease. The chief sources of 
 revenue in this state are taxes on corporations, on inheritances, 
 on transfers of stock, on mortgages, and on the sale of intoxi- 
 cants. In recent years there has been no direct property tax 
 levied by the state, but it is probable that with the greatly 
 increased cost of government that form of taxation will be 
 restored. 
 
 The Governor 
 
 We have seen how laws are made. Let us now consider how 
 they are enforced. At the head of the executive department 
 is the governor. He must be at least thirty years of age, a 
 citizen of the United States for the five years next preceding 
 his election. He is chosen by the qualified electors of the state 
 at the general election held in November of every even- 
 numbered year and holds office for two years from the first 
 day of the following January. 
 
 His Administrative Duties. As the chief executive officer of 
 the state his duties are varied. He is the commander in chief 
 of the militia of the state and may call out the state forces in 
 order to maintain order. He is also empowered by the Federal 
 constitution to call upon the United States for aid in suppressing 
 domestic violence. He directs the necessary business of the 
 state and sees that the laws are enforced. This is done through 
 the administrative agencies of the state government, which are 
 controlled by him or through executive orders issued by him 
 and sent to county or city officials.. 
 
S8 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 His Legislative Powers. The Governor shares with the legisla- 
 ture in the responsibility for the enactment of laws. Through the 
 annual and special messages which he sends to that body, he sug- 
 gests desirable legislation. Through the budget which he presents 
 for its consideration, he expresses his judgment as to the financial 
 needs of the state. He may summon the legislature, or the senate, 
 alone, to extraordinary sessions. But in his power to sign or 
 veto bills he exercises the greatest of his legislative duties. 
 
 His Judicial Functions. In granting pardons, reprieves, and 
 commutations of sentence, the governor has important judicial 
 functions. 
 
 Other Administrative State Officers 
 
 Many other Qfhcers, boards, and coimnissions assist in the 
 state's affairs. They are the managers of the state's business, 
 which is wide and varied and requires the services of a large 
 number of people. Five of these, the Comptroller, the Secre- 
 tary of State, the State Treasurer, the Attorney General, and 
 the State Engineer and Surveyor, are elected by the people at 
 the same time as the governor and for a term of two years. 
 
 The other officers and commissions are appointed by the 
 governor with the consent of the Senate and serve for various 
 terms. The more important of these boards are the Public 
 Service Commissions, the Conservation Commission, the State 
 Board of Charities, the State Commissioner of Highways, of 
 Health, and of Excise, the Superintendent of B auks and Insurance. 
 
 The Judiciary System of the State 
 The courts of this state have to deal with three distinct 
 groups of cases, namely: the interpretation of law, civil cases, 
 and criminal matters. The first is based upon questions affect- 
 ing the constitutionality of laws passed by the legislature. The 
 second is concerned with suits involving p^roperty or contract 
 rights. The courts settle such disagreements between indi- 
 viduals or corporations. The third has to do with the appre- 
 hension and punishment of criminals. Crimes are offenses 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 59 
 
 against the commonwealth. To make the country safe for 
 all of us, crimes must be punished. We therefore look to the 
 courts for protection, and the judges, together with juries, in 
 civil cases enforce our rights and in criminal cases guard the 
 commonwealth and apply the penalties which the state has 
 fixed for the violation of its laws. 
 
 Kinds and Jurisdiction of Courts 
 
 ' There are a series of courts for the trial of cases, extending 
 from those presided over by justices of the peace in towns 
 and municipal judges in cities, through the county court, the 
 supreme court, the appellate division of the supreme court to 
 the highest court in the state — the Court of Appeals. 
 
 The Justice Court. The lowest of these is the justice court 
 in each town. This has jurisdiction in civil matters, where the 
 amount involved is not more than $200, and in petty criminal 
 cases. The court is presided over by a Justice of the Peace, of 
 whom there are four, elected at town meeting. The justice 
 may issue warrants for the arrest of persons suspected of crime 
 and bind them over to await the action of the grand jury. 
 
 The County Court. The jurisdiction of the county court is 
 Imiited to the county, and in civil actions where the amount 
 involved does not exceed $2000. This court also tries the 
 majority of criminal cases. The county judge is elected for a 
 term of six years. 
 
 The Supreme Court. The next higher court is the supreme 
 court, in which all the more important civil actions and the 
 graver crimes against the laws of the state are tried. This 
 court has both original and appellate jurisdiction. In other 
 words certain matters have to originate here, while others are 
 appealed to it from the lower courts. The state is divided into 
 nine judicial districts and the judges are elected by the voters 
 in their districts for a term of fourteen years. 
 
 The Court of Appeals. This court corresponds to the United 
 States Supreme Court, except that it has only appellate juris- 
 
6o ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 diction. It is the most important judicial body in the state and 
 is the court of last resort in all questions arising under the state 
 law. It deals only with cases brought to it on appeal from the 
 lower courts. Its purpose is to determine whether the law has 
 been properly interpreted, and it does not examine into the 
 facts found in the lower courts except in criminal cases where 
 the penalty is death. 
 
 Through this elaborate system of courts the rights of the 
 individual with respect to his person and his property are safe- 
 guarded. It is the duty of these courts to see that every person 
 obtains justice, and they fail in that duty only when we who select 
 the judges do not choose men of integrity for these ofifices of honor 
 and of trust. 
 
 Local Governments 
 
 In order to bring government more closely to the people 
 and to make its administration simpler and more direct, the 
 state has been divided into counties and the counties again 
 into towns and school districts. 
 
 The growth of cities and villages also has necessitated the 
 establishment of separate forms of government to meet special 
 needs. All of these units except the counties comprised within 
 the limits of the city of New York have the three branches of 
 government, — legislative, executive, and judicial. 
 
 How Organized. A county, city, or an incorporated village is 
 created by an act of the State Legislature, but a town, as one 
 of the subdivisions of a county, is formed by the board of super- 
 visors of the county. In the early years of our existence as a 
 state, many towns received their charters directly from the 
 state and included in their boundaries the larger part of several 
 of the present counties. 
 
 While cities, towns, and villages are separate units, they 
 are a part of the county in which they exist, and the county 
 government performs some of its functions in the cities and vil- 
 lages within its limits and the town government in the village. 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 6i 
 
 The County. The state is divided into sixty-two counties, dif- 
 fering materially in size, population, and character. The five 
 counties of Greater New York are distinctly city-counties, while 
 Hamilton county in the Adirondacks is practically a wilderness. 
 
 The governing body of the county is the Board of Super- 
 visors, and its functions are largely legislative. This body has 
 charge of all county property, levies the taxes, and audits the 
 accounts of the county. Each supervisor is also a town official. 
 
 The court affairs of the county are in the hands of the county 
 judge. We have told in a former paragraph of the limitations 
 of his power. With him is associated the sheriff, who is the 
 chief executive officer of the county and whose principal duty 
 is to keep the peace and to enforce the orders of the court. 
 
 There are many other county officers, such as the surrogate, 
 to whom is intrusted the settlement of estates; the superin- 
 tendent of the poor, who cares for the dependents of the county; 
 and the county clerk, in whose office deeds, mortgages, and 
 other legal papers are recorded. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing summary of the powers and 
 duties of the county government that it is an important unit 
 in our political life. Indeed the tendency in this state is to 
 centralize in the county the management of many local affairs. 
 
 The Town. The form of government we have just described 
 is a representative democracy. It is so called because the 
 people govern themselves through the representatives whom 
 they elect. The town, however, is a pure democracy; that is, 
 in it the people govern themselves directly. At the town meet- 
 ing the voters determine what sums shall be raised to meet 
 the expenses of the town, consider all business which the laws 
 of the state permit the town to transact, and elect from among 
 their number men to carry on their business for them. 
 
 The City. Because so many people have settled in limited 
 areas and thus created cities and villages, it has been necessary 
 to give them a special form of government. For convenience 
 in legislation the state constitution has divided the cities into 
 
62 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 three classes: cities of the first class must have a population 
 of 175,000 or more; the second class must have a population 
 of more than 50,000 and less than 175,000; the third class 
 includes all other cities. 
 
 The growth of population in recent years to a marked degree 
 has been in the cities. This has made the administration of the 
 business affairs of a city increasingly complex. A growing city 
 is constantly being made over. It usually has a large percentage 
 of people of foreign birth, community life is congested, the 
 citizen has greater needs and demands more from his govern- 
 ment. He is much more dependent upon government for the 
 protection of his person and his property than are dwellers in 
 rural communities. So, for the welfare of its citizens, the city 
 establishes police and fire departments, provides for an ade- 
 quate water supply and for disposal of sewage, maintains parks 
 and recreation centers, grants franchises, cares for the streets, 
 and regulates transportation. These are only a few of the 
 functions of a city government. In his own city the pupil may 
 ascertain others and so add to this list. He should also find 
 out the titles and names of the principal city officials and classify 
 each according to the legislative, executive, or judicial func- 
 tions which he performs. 
 
 A few cities of the state, notably Buffalo and Niagara Falls, 
 have introduced a new form of government in which the ad- 
 ministration of the affairs of the city is centered in a commission, 
 usually composed of five men. As a body they act as the city 
 legislature; individually each member is at the head of one 
 of the great departments of the city government. 
 
 This interesting experiment in municipal government is 
 sometimes still more centralized through the appointment, by 
 the commission, of a city-manager, who is the administrative 
 head of the city government, and conducts its affairs just as 
 the president of a business corporation manages the affairs of 
 his corporation. 
 
HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF NEW YORK 63 
 
 Our Educational System 
 We have a strongly centralized system of education. The 
 University of the State of New York is composed of all edu- 
 cational institutions within the state, from the rural schools to 
 the Universities. Its governing body is the Board of Regents, 
 who determine its broad policies and administer them through 
 a Commissioner of Education whom they elect. Universal 
 free education, with compulsory attendance, gives every boy 
 and girl equal opportunities. Through grants to colleges and 
 through a system of University scholarships, worthy students 
 are encouraged to gain a higher education. Nor do the activi- 
 ties of the University cease here. The professions are safe- 
 guarded through its licensing power and the State Library and 
 Museum are in its care. The influence of this great institution 
 and its services to the commonwealth are exceeded by no 
 other agency of our government. 
 
 The Individual and the State 
 This then is the machinery, both state and local, by which 
 we govern ourselves. We must not forget that each one of us 
 is directly responsible not only to this government but, in an 
 equal degree, for this government. It is our creation through 
 our representatives who framed the constitution and through 
 the men whom we select to make our laws. These laws are 
 very close to us; they control even the intimate details of our 
 daily life; therefore we must choose wisely the men to whom 
 we intrust these great powers. The state is nothing without 
 her citizens, and when the citizens work together for the com- 
 mon good, when they forget selfish interests in loyal service to 
 the community and to the state, they fulfil the obligations of 
 good citizenship and help to make the state a peaceful and 
 prosperous place in which to live. 
 
64 ELEMENTARY HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 
 
 1. What is the state Constitution and how is it made? 
 
 2. Describe a visit to the state capital. 
 
 3. Tell how our laws are made. 
 
 4. Mention the more important powers and duties of the governor of 
 this state. 
 
 5. Describe the judicial system of this state. 
 
 6. Distinguish between a pure democracy and a representative democ- 
 racy and give an example of each in this state. 
 
 7. How is a city created? What are the three classes of cities? How 
 does legislation affecting a city differ in process of making from that 
 affecting a village? 
 
 8. What are some of the problems of city life? 
 
 9. If you live in a city or village find out what officers are responsible 
 for the public business of the city or village. To whom are they 
 responsible? 
 
 10. What are the advantages of the commission form of government 
 for cities? 
 
 11. Mention some of the responsibilities of the state towards its citizens. 
 
 12. Mention some of the duties of the citizen toward the state. 
 
 13. From the New York "Red Book" make a list of the principal state 
 officers and state boards. Indicate on this list the principal duties 
 and powers of each. 
 
 REFERENCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING 
 
 1. Ashley: "The New Civics." 
 
 2. Boynton: "Actual Government of New York." 
 
 3. Guitteau: "Government and Politics in the United States." 
 
 4. Hughes: "Community Civics." 
 
 5. "The New York Red Book." 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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