History of New York
| HIS 179 - CRN 79263 | Spring 2017 | Mon-Wed 1815-1930 | Morey 525 |
| Instructor: Morris A. Pierce, PhD | x5-4331 | [email protected] | Office hours Mon 1630-1730 RRL 401 |
This course covers the history of New York City and New York State from the arrival of indigenous peoples more
12,000 years ago. Early alliances between these peoples evolved into the Iroquois Confederacy in response to the arrival
of Europeans in the 16th Century. Conflicts between Dutch, French, British, and Americans resulted in the
independence of the United States, which was confirmed by the War of 1812. Resolution of competing colonial land
claims resulted in state boundaries that stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, opening the way for the
first commercial steam boat service in 1807 and the Erie Canal in 1825. These opened the Midwest to rapid settlement
and brought substantial trade and financial activity to New York City, which became and remains the richest and most
populous city in the United States. Upstate cities including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany also prospered
from this waterborne trade, which was reinforced by railroads in the 1830s and later by the New York Thruway.
Required Coursework and Grading
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Three papers are required (30 points each) – Each to be four to six pages (not counting images, notes, etc.),
double-spaced, include a list of references. Images, maps, etc., are preferred. Paper copies are acceptable, doublesided printing preferred; e-mailed PDF files preferred but Word is ok. Papers are due by the end of class on the
date due, late papers will lose points. If you prefer, you may use another media such as video or powerpoint that
covers the same information, but let me know if you plan to do this to insure that it will meet the requirements.
Each paper will cover a topic from a chronological period as described below, but some topics may overlap two or
more periods which is fine. You must use and cite at least two different sources published during the period you
are writing about for each paper (books, newspapers, diaries, etc). Use any common citation form.
o Paper #1: Before 1800 – Due February 20th.
o Paper #2: Nineteenth Century – Due April 3rd.
o Paper #3: Twentieth Century – Due at noon on Sunday, May 14th.
Paper Topics: Feel free to suggest something or someone not listed, as long as you have enough material to fill up
a four to six-page paper.
o President or other famous person born and/or raised in New York. Politicians, activists, labor, social, industrial
leaders. Presidents born or raised in New York include, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Chester A.
Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D Roosevelt. And some other guy.
o Not-famous person you are interested in, know a lot about, or would like to know about. Mt. Hope Cemetery.
o Region, county, city, town, village, school district, or neighborhood of interest. Baseball Hall of Fame.
o Significant event in New York history. World’s Fair 1909|1918|1939|1964| Pan American Exposition (1901)
o Technology or other artifact (automobile, camera, skyscraper, subway, bridge, etc.). Bell X-1. F-14 Tomcat.
o Company or other entity (university, labor union, hospital, medical school, church, cemetery, etc.)
o Military battle within the state, or a state military unit or person involved in a battle (Gettysburg, for instance)
o Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, March 31, 1911. | Giant squid sinks Staten Island Ferry, November 22, 1963.
o Authors – Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Joseph Heller, F.
Scott Fitzgerald, Toni Morrison, Langston Hughes. And many more…
o Muckrakers – Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, Julius Chambers, Elizabeth Cochran ("Nellie Bly")
o Newspapermen – William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Pulitzer, Horace Greeley
o Architecture – Flatiron Building, Empire State Building, tenements for workers, public housing.
o Entertainment and Sports – Vaudeville, circuses, live theater, motion pictures. Yankees, Dodgers, & Mets.
o Agriculture and food – Where does the food in New York City come from, how does it get there, and how is it
sold and distributed? Fulton Fish Market, Hunts Point Cooperative Market and Food Distribution Center.
o Visit a historical site or museum in (or about) the state, research it and write a report about it and its subject.
Up to ten additional points will be awarded for class participation, extra work, etc. (10 points) Note: Class
attendance is not required but is appreciated. As a courtesy let me know if you won’t be attending a class meeting.
Assignment grades will be posted on Blackboard. The course grade will be based on the total number of points
earned in the course, with letter grades assigned according to the following scale:
94-100
91-93
88-90
A
AB+
85-87
82-84
80-81
B
BC+
78-80
75-77
73-74
C
CD+
70-72
68-69
0-67
D
DE
Texts and Resources
There is no assigned course textbook, as there is loads of information on line and in the library.
Lecture slides, references, and other course materials will be posted on Blackboard.
1
18 January
2
23 January
3
25 January
4
30 January
5
1 February
6
6 February
7
8 February
8
13 February
9
15 February
10
20 February
11
22 February
12
27 February
13
1 March
14
6 March
15
8 March
13 &15 March
16
30 March
17
22 March
18
27 March
19
29 March
20
3 April
21
5 April
22
10 April
23
12 April
24
17 April
25
19 April
26
24 April
27
26 April
28
1 May
29
3 May
14 May
Introduction, overview and course objectives. The Physical Geography of New York – Water, forests,
mountains and swamps.
Earliest inhabitants of New York. Did they really influence the American Constitution? Iroquois, Lenape,
Ganondagan, Lewis Henry Morgan, Ely S. Parker, Red Jacket, Lamoka Site, Dutchess Quarry.
New York under the Dutch – North, South, and Fresh Rivers. Dutch West India Company, New Netherland
Peter Minuit, Rensselaerswyck, Fort Orange, New Amsterdam. First Jewish synagogue (1654)
New York under the English (and a few French) – Between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers. Thomas
Dongan, William Johnson, Nanfan Treaty, French & Indian War, Proclamation Line of 1763, Treaty of Fort
Stanwix (1768), Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville
New York and the American Revolution – Ticonderoga, The Capture of New York City, Valcour Island,
Saratoga, Cherry Valley Massacre, Sullivan’s Expedition, Evacuation Day, Treaty of Paris.
Becoming a State – Boundaries, surveying, sovereignty and ownership. The Treaty of Hartford and the PreEmption Line (1786). The Northwest Ordinance (1787).
Settling the new state – Central New York Military Tract, Phelps and Gorham Purchase and the Holland Land
Company. Robert Morris.
Slavery in New York and its (slow) abolition. New York Slave Uprisings - 1712, 1741. Indentured servants.
The Louisiana Purchase (1803), the War of 1812 and the Problem of Transportation – Turnpikes and the Erie
Canal. Visiting Niagara Falls. Robert R. Livingston, David Parish, DeWitt Clinton and Lundy’s Lane.
Paper #1 due Sailing ships, ferries, interstate commerce and Robert Fulton’s North River Steam Boat. The
Black Ball Line, first regularly-scheduled trans-Atlantic service in 1817. First class luxury, with steerage for
immigrants. New York to California in only 105 days (with no wi-fi)! (1855)
New York City – Port and Financial Center. Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (1921), Manhattan
Bank (1799), Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton. Longshoremen, On the Waterfront (1954)
The Rise of New Cities – Hudson, Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo. And Brooklyn (1834-1898).
Poor laws, Debtors’ Prisons, Miscegenation, Prohibitions against Consensual Sodomy, Adultery, Divorce,
Child Labor, and other laws that have (mostly) gone away. Prisons, asylums and orphanages.
The Burned Over District. Charles Finney, William Miller, the Fox Sisters, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young,
Mormons, Shakers, Lily Dale, Adventists, Oneida Society, Jehovah’s Witnesses. John Humphrey Noyes, Free
Love, and Complex Marriage. Bible Riots. | How the Irish Became White, by Noel Ignatiev (PDF of book) |
Water for New York City – Croton, Catskill and Delaware Aqueducts. Water for other New York cities.
Spring Break – No class
The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 and Women’s Rights. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and
Matilda Joslyn Gage. Amelia Bloomer, editor of the first woman's newspaper, The Lily (1849). Margaret
Sanger’s later work to promote safe and effective birth control was a major advance for women.
The Fugitive Slave Act and the Underground Railroad. Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and Harriet
Tubman. Reception of the abolition movement in New York. John Brown’s visit before Harper’s Ferry.
The telegraph and the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company, which became Western
Union. Samuel L. Selden, Hiram Sibley, and Ezra Cornell.
The Erie and New York Central Railroads. Many local communities invested public funds in railroads for
economic development and to gain access to cheap coal. New York to California in only 83 hours! (1876)
Paper #2 due The Civil War. Draft riots in New York City, which was largely pro-Southern. William H.
Seward, Roscoe Conkling, William “Boss” Tweed, Tammany Hall. What happened to Judge Crater?
Getting to and around New York City – Bridges, tunnels, horse railways, elevated trains and subways. Radio.
Immigration before and after Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892. Irish famine, escaping poverty, Nazis,
and Communists. Hungarian uprising. Historical demographics of New York. Statue of Liberty (1886)
The Great Migration – 1910 to 1970. African-American diaspora from the South meets Northern segregation
and discrimination. The Lincoln Highway (1913). Coast to coast by highway in only 573 hours! (1919)
Education – Colleges, universities, medical schools, public schools. Abraham Flexner, Rush Rhees.
Industry and labor in New York. Erastus Corning, Samuel Gompers, John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius
Vanderbilt, George Eastman, J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Daniel Drew, Frances Perkins, Chester Carlson.
Steel plants in Buffalo and aircraft factories in Buffalo and Long Island. Black Tom Explosion (1916)
Post-War New York – Prosperity for, well, some. Levittown, Woodstock, Free Love (part 2), Stonewall riots,
Madison Avenue, television, G.I. Bill. Eleanor Roosevelt. What happened to Richard Colvin Cox?
Energy in New York – Wood, coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar and ? Gas stations in New York City,
and especially Manhattan, an endangered species? Where can I charge my electric car? Coney Island?
The Automobile, the New York Thruway, and the Interstate highway system. New Tappan Zee Bridge,
EZ-Pass, Uber. Schoharie Bridge collapse (1987). Why no Interstate between New York and Vermont?
Air travel – Lindberg, LaGuardia, Idlewild, Pan Am Clippers, Concorde. | Fast trains from Midtown to the
airports (right…) | New York to California in only 51 hours! (1928)
Final Paper due at Noon on Sunday, May 14th