New York City History Essay

sassy York City has always been rife with speculations and legends to the highest degree its origin. Neglected in the order of the Statesn History that focuses on the 13 founding states, its remarkable beginnings as a Dutch colony founded in the wilderness atomic name 18 belied by a bustling metropolis at the center of the upwardly mobile adult male. Yet this relegated obscurity of the humble origins of the fine-looking Apple hold the key to attending the rapid growth and burgeoning world motive that is to be fetch the f either in States of the States. all overbold York is the port and entryway to the cock-a-hoop American continent. International wars wipe out been fought e verywhere its control in the public figureer(a) 1600s, as its location was deemed strategic to greater dominance over the pillow of the land.On the former(a) hand, this relegated obscurity of upstart York in the historical canon is par every(prenominal)eled by the very analogous obscurity that plagues pre-Puritan American literature. For a coarse judgment of conviction, American national literature was deemed to have begun nearlytime after the colonial period, and the writings, myths, and legends of the Native Americans, as well as the travel grades and logs of the explorers were non considered stark academic literature.This notion, which falsely states that civilized life began when the Puritans settled on Americas shores, has now been overturned. With the introduction by the impertinently critics of a headwaiter list of what is considered the representative American literature, what has once been woefully excluded has now been cordially 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 Reds discovery to the garners of Columbus to the King and big wrinkleman of Spain after the discovery of the Americas. This call to redefine what was once tho ught of as rigid and permanent meaning of Literature trickles start to the concept of American national literature, an bea 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 create verbally 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 virgin York, and more than specifically the island of Manhattan, that stands to benefit the most. For it is innovative York, whose Dutch origins have been rock-bottom 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 reflection of literature, its significance as gateway two to the physical and abstract America comes to fore.One of the more interesting extant documents regarding New Netherland, the New York of the 1600s, 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 eldest account of the neophyte community d wizard educated eyes (Introduction 120).Furthermore, this text presents not that the established New Netherland. More importantly, it presents a mirror of the already existing Dutch psyche. And even if its publishr may claim it to be written from an impartial and an objective point of view, various threads of subjectivism and relativism argon seen interspersed th nervyout the text.The most predominant thematic structure, most probably explicate by Michaelius unintentionally in the course of writing the letter, is the symbiotic congener that links together the mythological and abstract New York of his imagination and the real, square New York that he has come to possess. For Michaelius, it is the mythological New York, conceived not through legends or actual myths, solely through a instinct of agency and special ordination by graven image, 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 official by God Our coming here was agreeable to all, and I stand by the lenience of the captain, that my service will not be unfruitful (Michaelius 123). All here does not merely connote the nation he came with to New Netherland quite an, it is an encompassing term that includes God. For, as he continues in the same paragraph, God has always graciously blessed his labors (123). What he is subconsciously express with these statements is the fact that his was a Holy endeavour, a calling of God for him to permeate Christianity to the vast continent peopled by heathens. It is an ordination by God, a mission to Christianize the som e 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 established the form of a perform (124). His choice of wrangling reflects the way he viewed his new surroundings. Being but in the wilderness, he was save able to shape a rudimentary church. Once again, this reflects Michaelius sense of vocation to tame the wild in order to glorify God. serving did not seem to be forthcoming, as the person with enough project to guide him, Brother Bastiaen Crol, was himself busy with his own fort. This statement is a coup doeil into the future life of Michaelius, which will find him responsible not still 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 Michaeliu s is echoed a few lines later, where he tells Smoutius about his desire to screen out carefully the ecclesiastical from the civil matters (125).Double tasking for the minister, the leader of the flock entrusted to him, is requisite for the stability and longsightedevity of the community. Being Gods own servant to them in this time of great upheaval in their effs, he serves as their link to the old world they left behind. For it is the minister who carries both Gods work and their countrys work, the figurehead for both authorities. He becomes the familiar face, the wiz that gives them a sense of belonging and continuity, two things brisk 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. preponderating in this was the way Michaelius administered the Lord Supper to the people. Fifty communicants attended the first celebratio n, some making their first confessions onward 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 the satisfactory testimony of others to whom they were known, and also upon their daily good deportment, since one cannot reward strictly all the usual formalities in making a beginning under such(prenominal) circumstances (124). Throughout the letter, Michaelius harps on the appreciate of adaptation as seen through his meticulous preoccupation with practical affairs. He calls on the Honorable Directors to furnish the place with plainer and more precise counsellings to the rulers (126). He keeps a detailed account of the country, and how it would shell be make 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 external 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 rough and unrestrained into a community, the same people who did not even gauge 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 staring(a) place, an area of monstrosity amidst abundance, populated by people who could not differ more in appearance from the white Englishmen. Its distance from either other known civilization at that time most probably strengthened 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 little ethnic minority from Belgium, Dutch, and French converge to celebrate Mass. These people, aside from having change racial and ethnic backgrounds, were also physically dispersed throughout New Netherland. As a result, Mass could only be celebrated once every four-spot 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 elflike 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 service hence, it is but natural that the first order of business in place 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 so 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 displacement reaction the young Indians from their homes and into the Dutch colony, in order that 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 spoken communication at all. In these account, the Reverend that believes he is Gods oracle 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 dry land how the New World is a remote and surreal place remote from civil society, whose discovery and introduction into the correct way of life is a source of gratitude to the Europeans. As a literary piece, Michaelius letter presents the New York mythologized by its writer. It is the New York ordained by God as the Promised Land, the land for His wear off 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 contrastive constructs in one channel, the power of the imagination to shape and construct a viable community is perceived. For without the bless ing and mandate of the supernatural, which is the catalyst of the exploration and answer of New Netherland, New York the material would not have come and expectant into its charmed existence.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 matte rs 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 congregationAt the first administration of the Lords 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 regrettably 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 Lords 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 convey you Reverence therefor since we must all have no other object than the glory of God in the building up of his demesne and the salvation of many souls.I keep myself as far as practicable within the pale of my calling, wherein I find myself sufficiently assiduous. 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).SourcesIntroduction. pp. 119-21.Michaelius, Jonas. Letter of Reverend Jonas Michaelius. pp. 122-33.