Going Dutch
On Tuesday, August 27, 1664, New Amsterdam, a harborside settlement at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, was bustling. Carpenters were hammering. Coopers were assembling barrels out of staves and metal hoops. Tavernkeepers were sweeping floors. The town was a miniature Babel, home to speakers of more than 15 languages. Africans, enslaved and free, were everywhere. In multiple Dutch Reformed churches, “dominies,” as the sect called ministers, were preparing sermons. Butcher Asser Levy was serving fellow Jews and anyone else wanting a nice piece of kosher meat.
The sight of four warships in the harbor electrified all who saw the vessels, which were flying the English colors. Lately the Netherlands, which owned the colony of New Netherland, had been at odds with England. King Charles II had granted John Winthrop, governor of the English colony Connecticut, a charter assigning Winthrop claim to all territory between Narragansett Bay and the Pacific. That grant included much of New Netherland. English residents of Dutch-ruled towns in Long Island had been chafing under Dutch control, complaining to Peter Stuyvesant, New Netherland’s autocratic director-general. When Winthrop, sent by the British as an emissary, debarked from one of the ships and handed Stuyvesant what the English called “Articles of Capitulation,” Stuyvesant tore the papers to shreds. Piecing together the tatters, other Dutchmen thought the articles’ terms generous—Dutch colonists could keep their property, come and go as they pleased, worship freely, trade as always, and keep their inheritance rules. Local officials would serve out their terms.
The tetchy Stuyvesant wanted to fight. So did the 150 or so Dutch soldiers at Fort Amsterdam at the island’s edge, despite being far outnumbered by the English troops aboard the ships. Most residents feared that if the soldiers got their way they would lose everything. “Those lousy dogs want to fight because they have nothing to lose,” a woman said. “Whereas we have our property here, which
