I found it interesting to see that, in some aspects, Colonial New York is not much different from the New York we know today. It was ethnically diverse starting when European explorers first came to New York Harbor. The Dutch West India Company wanted to increase the population on Manhattan Island by asking people to immigrate from Europe. In the chapter “Slavery in Colonial New York,” observers noticed that half the population was non-Dutch and that eighteen different languages were spoken, and this was during the 1600s. There was also a sense of maintaing heritage, especially from the French living on Staten Island. Colonial New York was also a religiously diverse area. According to Binder and Reimers, since different religious practices weren’t tolerated in Europe, the settlers came here to have this opportunity, although it was limited because many had to worship privately. The Dutch were considered very tolerant people, which probably attributes to why many people came here. These ideas were prominent more than a century before the United States of America was formed.
However, slavery was also a big deal in Colonial New York. The Dutch brought slaves to New York to help support the economy and asisst the settlers, but as time went on, they were considered inferior and the colonists attempted to justify it. At first, the slaves had half-freedom, where they were allowed to defend themsleves in court and own property. Their freedoms, however, became limited especially after the conspiracy of 1741-42, when many different forts and buildings were being burned down. At first, the fires were treated as isolated cases, but as more occurred, arson was suspected. No one had an idea of who were behind the fire, but slaves were a suspected group. Many officials became afraid that the African slaves and white servants working together could become a great problem. In July 1827, after much debate, the slaves were given freedom, which happened quite some time before the rest of the country.
To a certain extent, New York was ahead of itself in tolerance, freedom, and the abolishment of slavery, although it still had a way to go.
