Unit 1 - Unit 2 - Unit 3 - Unit 4 - Unit 5 - Unit 6

TOUR UNIT ONE

Lower Manhattan- Origins: Native Americans, Knickerbockers and the New Republic

Day 1	Inventing Gotham: New York City and the American Dream In Class Video: Manhattan excerpt in class discussion of course requirements: journals, quizzes, tours, essays
Day 2	HA Chapter 1 Encounter DBQ Timeline: Native Americans, Knickerbockers and the New Republic, 1609-1825 Washington Irving, A History of New York, frontespeice, pp. xv-xvi (handout) Read the Irving Online at http://www.nyu.edu/classes/amlit/histny.htm(read one half today and the next tomorrow- Print out for Day Three) How does the geology and geography of the New York area determine its history as earliest continuous settlement? As "entrepot"? As "periphery" and "center"? as "melting pot"? What makes New York exceptional? Questions: 1. Which Native American groups lived in what would become the New York area? How were the groups organized and related? 2. What present day names in the NY area are derived from Indian names? 3. The early European settlers of the lower Hudson Valley reported of finding and "Eden" where "the Land floweth with milk and honey." How was this abundance a result of geography? How was it a result of Native American practices? 4. How did Native American and European attitudes toward land and commerce differ? (see your old Divine, page 8) How did these differences undermine Native American independence? 5. What did Europeans want with beaver pelts? How did the European demand for fur lead to Native Americans dependence on Europeans?
Day 3	"The Beginning of the World": Knickerbocker's "History" & Other Fictions Washington Irving handout: Online at http://www.nyu.edu/classes/amlit/histny.htm (print out for class) Cooper, Washington Irving, The Man Who Invented Dutch New York (handout) How is Washington irving's portaryal of the encounter between Native Americans and Europeans "modern"? 1. How does Irvings frontispiece etsablish the readers skepticism about the author? Why would Irving wnat to undermine his "author"? 6. How is Irving's History an indictment of the European settlers? Of history itself? 7. Why does Irving choose "Gotham" (look it up) as a nickname for the city? How does the monicker serve Irving's larger purposes? What does his portrayal tell us about his own New York in 1809?
Day 4	The First Manhattan Real Estate Deal: Inventing Gotham's 'American Dream' HA Chapter 2 Epic Chapter 2 What is the significance of the "$24" purchase of Manhattan Island? How does the action reflect the enduring legacy of New Amsterdam's founding? Who paid the price and how? Questions: 1. How does the Reformation contribute to the founding of New Amsterdam? (Hint: it ain't the Pilgrims.) How does European competition for imperial conquest drive the early history of New Amsterdam? 2. How does the Dutch West India Company come to replace the Dutch East India Company and the manager of the Dutch colonies? 3. Characterize the administration of Willem Kieft. What were the causes of 'Kieft's War' and what were its consequences?
Day 5	From New Amsterdam to New York HA Chapter 3, pp. 34-47 Epic Chapter 3 Timeline: Native Americans, Knickerbockers and the New Republic, 1609-1825 (review the English Restoration in your World History text and the timeline) DBQ: Class, Ethnicity and Social Geography in Early New York How is Stuyvesant's New Amsterdam unique among the colonies of the period? How is it a harbinger of the American Dream? How does New Amsterdam/New York begin to move from the periphery to the center? Periphery of what? Center of what? Questions: 1. How would you characterize Dutch rule in New Amsterdam prior to Stuyvesant's arrival in 1647? What went wrong? 2. How was Stuyvesant uniquely suited to manage the colony? 3. How do Africans and Jews come to New Amsterdam? How are they treated under law and custom? How are women treated under law and custom? 4. Would you like to live in Stuyvesant's New Amsterdam? Does he remind you of a later manager of the area? 5. How do mercantile considerations drive England's desire for colonies such as New York? Why New York in particular? 6. Why couldn't Stuyvesant resist the British? Why didn't the Dutch fight harder to keep new Amsterdam? 7. Why was the transfer of power from the Dutch to the English so (relatively) peaceful?
Day 6-7	Burghers and Barbarians: Leisler's Rebellion and Racial Conflict Today we will discuss tour location and choose stops(in groups). Please read the following in preparation for discussion on tour Epic Chapters 4 and 5 HA p. 40-45 Timeline: Native Americans, Knickerbockers and the New Republic, 1609-1825 (review the Glorious Revolution in your World History text) Was Leisler's Rebellion a conflict rooted in class, culture, ethnicity, religion or politics? How would you charatcterize racial and ethnic relaqtions from the 1660s to the 1740s? Questions: 1. What is the "social geography" of New York in the late 17th century? Where do the Dutch, English, poor, rich, artisans, merchants, Catholic, Dutch Reform and Anglicans live? 2. What are the British roots of the Dongan Charter? What was the purpose of the Charter? Was it democratic? What are patroonships and manors? 3. How did the Glorious Revolution in England inspire revolution in America (in 1689 and 1776)? What did Jacob Leisler hope to accomplish in 1689? Why did Leisler fail? 4. Assuming for the moment that no conspiracy existed, how might you explain the fear surrounding the slaves Caesar and Prince and the tavern keeper John Hughson? Was it straighforward racism, or were there other determinants of the panic and paranoia that led to the execution of 17 blacks and four whites, and the vigilante burning of 13 others?
Day 8-9	Revolution and Occupation: The Stamp Act and the Battle of Brooklyn Today we will do library research Please read the following in preparation for discussion on tour HA p. 46-51 Epic Chapters 11 and 12 Battle of Brooklyn DBQ Jackson, Forgotten Saga of the Prison Ships * (optional) How and why is New York's experience of the Revolution exceptional? Questions: 1. What precedent did the Zenger trial set for the law? For the culture? (see Epic Ch. 10) 2. How do economic conditions feed both loyalism and unrest? 3. How is the Stamp Act Congress a dress rehearsal for the Revolution? How is it not? Why is it in New York? 4. What was the symbolic import of the battle of Golden's Hill and the raising of the Liberty pole(s) 5. How did New York's geography and geology affect the outcome of Washington and Howe's battles?
Day 10	Phoenix from the Ashes: The First Capital Today we will do classroom and web research. Please read the following in preparation for discussion on tour HA Chapter 4 Epic Chapter 14 Battle of Brooklyn DBQ How did New York become the first capital under the Constitution? How did New York's prominence affect the nature of the new republic? How does New York move from periphery to center in the 1790s? Questions: 1. What were Hamilton and Jefferson's competing economic and political visions for the American republic? 2. What policies did Hamilton's Report on Public Credit promote? Why did Hamilton favor creating a bank of the U.S.? What did Hamilton advocate in his Report on Manufactures? Why did Madison and other Jeffersonians (Democratic-Republicans) oppose such policies? 3. What fear drove the creation of the "Buttonwood Agreement"? How did the Agreement push New York toward the center from the periphery? 4. How do they "resolve" their differences during their chat in NYC? Which aspects of Hamilton's plan were implemented? Whose vision "won," Jefferson's or Hamilton's?
Day 11	Thinking About Going on a Tour Today we will do classroom and web research and submit tour notes and quiz questions. Please read the following in preparation for discussion on tour Read the following at your leisure as a way of thinking about the realtionship between the city's past and present and the way the City looks to different New Yorkers. You may also wish to use these works as a starting point for your first journal. Cynthia Ozick, "The Synthetic Sublime." E. B. White, "This Is New York" Questions: 1) Is there a place you know in New York where you can glimpse marks of the past as well as the present (such as the spot Ozick writes about on 72nd Street and Broadway, waiting for the M104). Do the past and present clash or flatter one another? 2) Which of E. B. White's New Yorks is your New York?
Day 12	Tour I- Lower Manhattan- Origins: Native Americans, Knickerbockers and the New Republic
Day 13	Quiz, debrief on tour and post contributions on the Gotham map website