New York City History Essay

New York City has always been rife with speculations and legends about its origin. Neglected in the canon of American History that focuses on the 13 founding states, its remarkable beginnings as a Dutch colony founded in the wilderness are belied by a bustling metropolis at the center of the upwardly mobile world. Yet this relegated obscurity of the humble origins of the Big Apple hold the key to understanding the rapid growth and burgeoning world power that is to become the United States of America. New York is the port and entryway to the large American continent. International wars have been fought over its control in the early 1600’s, as its location was deemed strategic to greater dominance over the rest of the land. On the other hand, this relegated obscurity of New York in the historical canon is paralleled by the very same obscurity that plagues pre-Puritan â€Å"American† literature. For a long time, American national literature was deemed to have begun sometime after the Colonial period, and the writings, myths, and legends of the Native Americans, as well as the travel accounts and logs of the explorers were not considered â€Å"serious† academic literature. This notion, which falsely states that civilized life began when the Puritans settled on America’s shores, has now been overturned. With the introduction by the new critics of a master list of what is considered the â€Å"representative American† literature, what has once been woefully excluded has now been warmly embraced. These texts encompass a wide range of genres, from the creation myths of the Indians to their mystical chants, from the near-mythological account of Eric the Red’s discovery to the letters of Columbus to the King and Queen of Spain after the discovery of the Americas. This call to redefine what was once thought of as rigid and permanent meaning of Literature trickles down to the concept of American national literature, an area most affected by this welcoming of new genres to the canon. By adapting a flexible stance on what constitutes real Literature, a well-rounded view of America is achieved. Indeed, it is in these earliest extant written works that the groundwork is laid to understand the irony and enigma that is the United States of America. And though the whole of the country gains from this shift of paradigm, it is perhaps the state of New York, and more specifically the island of Manhattan, that stands to benefit the most. For it is New York, whose Dutch origins have been reduced to trifle icons, that lost most of its history and literature when the English took over the colony. Indeed, by turning an eye to New York as a construction of literature, its significance as gateway both to the physical and abstract America comes to fore. One of the more interesting extant documents regarding New Netherland, the New York of the 1600’s, is the letter of the Reverend Jonas Michaelius to Mr. Adrian Smoutius. Michaelius’ account of Manhattan holds a special place in both the history and literature of New York as it is the first account of the fledgling community through educated eyes (â€Å"Introduction† 120). Furthermore, this text presents not only the established New Netherland. More importantly, it presents a mirror of the already existing Dutch psyche. And even if its writer may claim it to be written from an impartial and an objective point of view, various threads of subjectivism and relativism are seen interspersed throughout the text. The most predominant thematic structure, most probably formulated by Michaelius unintentionally in the course of writing the letter, is the symbiotic relation that links together the mythological and abstract â€Å"New York† of his imagination and the real, material New York that he has come to possess. For Michaelius, it is the mythological â€Å"New York,† conceived not through legends or actual myths, but through a sense of mission and special ordination by God, that gave meaning, structure, and impetus to the creation of the material, historical New York. As Michaelius points out in his letter, his coming to New Netherland was an act ordained by God: â€Å"Our coming here was agreeable to all, and I hope by the grace of the Lord, that my service will not be unfruitful (Michaelius 123).† â€Å"All† here does not merely connote the people he came with to New Netherland; rather, it is an encompassing term that includes God. For, as he continues in the same paragraph, God has always â€Å"graciously blessed [his] labors (123).† What he is subconsciously saying with these statements is the fact that his was a Holy Enterprise, a calling of God for him to spread Christianity to the vast continent peopled by heathens. It is an ordination by God, a mission to Christianize the â€Å"others.† And, as will be seen throughout the letter, it is through this special sense of vocation that Michealius is able, against seemingly insurmountable odds, to create New York. Upon arriving at the island, Michaelius â€Å"established the form of a church (124).† His choice of words reflects the way he viewed his new surroundings. Being but in the wilderness, he was only able to shape a rudimentary church. Once again, this reflects Michaelius’ sense of vocation to tame the wild in order to glorify God. Help did not seem to be forthcoming, as the person with enough experience to guide him, Brother Bastiaen Crol, was himself busy with his own fort. This statement is a glimpse into the future life of Michaelius, which will find him responsible not only for the church but also for the trade of the community. Church people, then, were not only meant to serve God through the people, but they were also meant to serve the people themselves. Indeed, this realization of Michaelius is echoed a few lines later, where he tells Smoutius about his desire to â€Å"separate carefully the ecclesiastical from the civil matters (125).† Double tasking for the minister, the leader of the flock entrusted to him, is essential for the stability and longevity of the community. Being God’s own handmaid to them in this time of great upheaval in their lives, he serves as their link to the old world they left behind. For it is the minister who carries both God’s work and their country’s work, the figurehead for both authorities. He becomes the familiar face, the one that gives them a sense of belonging and continuity, two things vital for ensuring peace in the community. Adaptation, too, is an important ingredient to assure success in their endeavor. To fight the situation was to die and fail with the churches they just have established. Paramount in this was the way Michaelius administered the Lord’ Supper to the people. Fifty communicants attended the first celebration, some making â€Å"their first confessions before [them],† others already baptized into the faith as evidenced by their certificates (124). Still, there were others who had lost their certificate that attests to their membership in church back in Netherlands. Michaelius had no choice but to accept them upon â€Å"the satisfactory testimony of others to whom they were known, and also upon their daily good deportment, since one cannot observe strictly all the usual formalities in making a beginning under such circumstances (124).† Throughout the letter, Michaelius harps on the value of adaptation as seen through his meticulous preoccupation with practical affairs. He calls on the Honorable Directors to â€Å"furnish [the] place with plainer and more precise instructions to the rulers (126).† He keeps a detailed account of the country, and how it would best be made suitable for the support of life (130). And though he was at first reluctant to delve into these matters, being the leader, he knew that he had to step away from the mold of the clergyman to become the clerk. By staying true to his calling as leader of the flock, he molds the colony filled with people who are â€Å"rough and unrestrained† into a community, the same people who did not even think â€Å"that a church would be formed and established [there] (124).† This statement is very telling, again, of the actual and physical surrounding of Manhattan at that time. Perhaps it was an utterly desolate place, an area of monstrosity amidst abundance, populated by people who could not differ more in appearance from the white Englishmen. Its distance from any other known civilization at that time most probably reinforced such a feeling of isolation. Yet, whatever the reason may be, a church must be established, and established it was. Also, this account, aside from being a testament to the adaptation strategies of Michealius and his people, also establishes and foreshadows the modern day New York as a melting pot for people of various races. Walloons, a small ethnic minority from Belgium, Dutch, and French converge to celebrate Mass. These people, aside from having varying racial and ethnic backgrounds, were also physically dispersed throughout New Netherland. As a result, Mass could only be celebrated once every four months, since some of them live far away and could not well come in time of heavy rain and storm, so that they themselves cannot think it advisable to appoint any special service in French for so small a number, and that upon an uncertainty (125). Differing races, differing traditions, differing backgrounds, all come together in God. What Michaelius is pointing out here is that unity is achieved through the Church; hence, it is but natural that the first order of business in setting up a community is through the formation of a Church. The Church is now a unifying force, which gathers under its wings people from differing walks of life. Even though the Dutch ventured into the (relatively) unknown with the Messianic goal of converting heathens into God-fearing, Bible-quoting Christians, the ideologies of the Holy Enterprise are a loaded dice, however, against the natives of the place. It is suggestive of power relations and power struggles, one that automatically places the evangelist in a higher echelon than the one to be evangelized. A case in point is the idea of supplanting the young Indians from their homes and into the Dutch colony, in order that â€Å"they may be instructed to speak, read, and write in [the Dutch] language, but also especially in the fundamentals of our Christian religion (129).† It was not that these Indians could not speak in the literal sense, but rather, that they cannot talk Dutch. For them, this is tantamount to not knowing how to communicate in words at all.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In these account, the Reverend that believes he is God’s prophet shows a side of himself that to readers today imply not the upright Christian he purports himself to be. His condescension to the natives is indicative of the stance the rest of the colonizers took regarding the New World – how the New World is a remote and surreal place removed from civil society, whose â€Å"discovery† and introduction into the â€Å"correct† way of life is a source of gratitude to the Europeans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As a literary piece, Michaelius’ letter presents the â€Å"New York† mythologized by its writer. It is the â€Å"New York† ordained by God as the Promised Land, the land for His weary men. As a historical piece, it gives an insight into the early days of New York, the New York of uncertainty and of disparate people. It is the story of the trials and tribulations faced by the settlers who were uprooted from their motherland, only to settle in an unfamiliar place. Through the conflation of these two seemingly different constructs in one channel, the power of the imagination to shape and construct a viable community is perceived. For without the blessing and mandate of the supernatural, which is the catalyst of the exploration and settlement of New Netherland, New York the material would not have come and grown into its charmed existence.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Our coming here was agreeable to all, and I hope, by the grace of the Lord, that my service will not be unfruitful. The people, for the most part, are rather rough and unrestrained, but I find in almost all of them both love and respect towards me; two things with which hitherto the Lord has everywhere (123) graciously blessed my labors, and which in our calling, as your Reverence well knows and finds, are especially desirable, in order to make our ministry fruitful. From the beginning we established the form of a church and as Brother Bastiaen Crol very seldom comes down from Fort Orange, because the directorship of that fort and the trade there is committed to him, it has been thought best to choose two elders for my assistance and for the proper consideration of all such ecclesiastical matters as might occur, intending the coming year, if the Lord permit, to let one of them retire, and to choose another in his place from a double number first lawfully proposed to the congregation†¦ At the first administration of the Lord’s Supper which was observed, not without great comfort to many, we had fully fifty communicants – Walloons and Dutch; of whom, a portion made their first confession of faith before us, and others exhibited their church certificates. Others had forgotten to bring their certificates with them, not thinking that a church would be formed and established here; and some who brought (124) them, had lost them unfortunately in a general conflagration but they were admitted upon the satisfactory testimony of others to whom they were known, and also upon their daily good deportment, since one cannot observe strictly all the usual formalities in making a beginning under such circumstances. We administer the Holy Supper of the Lord once in four months, provisionally, until a larger number of people shall otherwise require. The Walloons and French have no service on Sundays, otherwise than in the Dutch language, for those who understand no Dutch are very few. A portion of the Wallons are going back to the Fatherland, either because their years here are expired, or else because some are not very serviceable to the Company. Some of them live far away and could not well come in time of heavy rain and storm, so that they themselves cannot think it advisable to appoint any special service in French for so small a number, and that upon an uncertainty. Nevertheless, the Lord’s Supper is administered to them in the French language, and according to the French mode, with a sermon preceding, which I have before me in writing, so long as I can not trust myself extemporaneously. If in this and in other matters your Reverence and the Reverend Brethren of the Consistory, who have special superintendence over us here, deem it necessary to administer to us any correction, instruction or good advice, it will be agreeable to us and we shall thank you Reverence therefor; since we must all have no other object than the glory of God in the building up of his kingdom and the salvation of many souls. I keep myself as far as practicable within the pale of my calling, wherein I find myself sufficiently occupied. And although our small consistory embraces at the most – when Brother Crol is down here – not more than four persons, all of whom, myself alone excepted, have also public business to attend to, I still hope to separate carefully the ecclesiastical from the civil matters which occur, so that each one will be occupied with his own subject (125).†          Sources    â€Å"Introduction.† pp. 119-21. Michaelius, Jonas. â€Å"Letter of Reverend Jonas Michaelius.† pp. 122-33.