Like, Ashley, I agree that there were many parallels that could be drawn between Colonial New York, and Modern New York. Like now, New York then also had a general air of diversity and tolerance, or at least relatively. It was extremely interesting to read about the aspects of colonial New York, especially Dutch-controlled New Amsterdam! I find it quite humorous that we didn’t learn about the “bigot” side of Peter Stuyvesant in grade school. Also, it is quite hard to imagine the island of Manhattan as a rural collection of log cabins and mills: I felt that the articles really helped me get a feel of what it was like to actually live there in the 18th century! I really got a sense of the social tensions and the runnings of daily life going on in colonial New York.
I find it so ironic that we view the north as such anti-slavery, and so inherently tolerant. We all talk about the diversity we are blessed with here in New York, and especially Queens. However, as Marinna described, according to these articles, slavery actually started out just as crucial to the north, if not more crucial, than to the south! Many of slavery’s uniquely American traits actually originated, and snowballed here in New York! The articles showed the gradual change between the lenience afforded to slaves under Dutch rule, to the slow removal of rights under British and then American rule. Marinna showed examples of how every time an argument was made against slavery, the base concept of slavery, rules of slavery, as well as the general viewpoint of the African American community was shifted and molded around that argument. It shows such hypocrisy, and such shameless desperate acts that can be taken to save a failing economy.
