Colonial New York City

During the British colonial era, New York City became was established as a critical port city situated between the Hudson and East Rivers. A major hub essential to trade between Britain and its American colonies, New York City was equally desired by British and American forces during the American Revolutionary War. The strategic importance of the city made maps of the city valuable during the war and beyond.

New York’s rise as a leading port was helped by the expansion of the city’s market economy that connected the rural parts of the colonies to the Atlantic trade. The map New Engelland, New York, New Yersey und Pensilvania by Homann Erben, dated 1760, shows how easily the ocean was accessible from the waterways leading into New York City. The growth of New York City, facilitated by this accessibility to water, expanded in response to the expansion of the European market for West Indian sugar and the increase in demand of the growing plantation economy. This included items such as foodstuffs, clothing, and timber, but also the trafficking of enslaved people. The city’s expanding maritime trade helped to increase its population from 4,937 in 1698 to 8,664 by the time of the first official census in 1737.¹

New York City’s overseas trade also supported the emergence of a new industry of shipbuilding, which was a community enterprise involving shipwrights, carpenters, and other trades.² The maritime trade and shipbuilding industry is depicted in Bernard Ratzer’s Plan of the City of New York (1770), with numerous ships surrounding the port of New York City. The city’s economic expansion would only continue as the colonies experienced increased population growth due to immigration from Europe.³

Due to its economic and geographic significance, as shown in the map A Plan of the City and Environs of New York in North America (1776), New York City’s position along the Atlantic Ocean and between the East and Hudson Rivers made it a strategic asset for both the Americans and the British during the Revolutionary War.⁴ Before the imperial crisis intensified in 1775, the majority of New Yorkers refused to take a side over the question of whether to remain British subjects or join the American cause. However, once the war erupted in Massachusetts, residents were increasingly forced to choose sides. In October 1775, Christopher Smith, a wealthy New York merchant, wrote to his friend in the Continental Congress, John Alsop, “The dread I am now under for fear of our city being destroyed. How to act, I do not know.”⁵ By the end of 1775, many colonists in New York had lost hope that there would be a peaceful resolution to the conflict.⁶

In early 1776, New Yorkers learned that the British would abandon Boston, and that their city would become the next target of British occupation. In July, the British landed an armada totaling more than thirty thousand soldiers and seamen in New York. In striking detail, A Plan of the city of New York (1776) shows the forts, embrasures, and ramparts used to maintain a tactical advantage over General George Washington in the city, as well as areas of the city destroyed by the fire of that year. Washington, in a letter to John Hancock in September 1776, expressed deep frustration and despair over having had to surrender the city to the British.⁷ Although Washington hoped to retake the city, the British occupied New York for the duration of the war until finally evacuating alongside some of the city’s loyalists in late 1783 following the Treaty of Paris.⁸

Despite the damage and turmoil caused by the Revolutionary War, New York City continued to grow. By 1820, it had become the largest urban center in the United States. Benjamin Taylor’s map A new & accurate plan of the city of New York in the state of New York in North America (1797) shows the expansion of the city due to its rapid population growth.

From its early days as a British colonial port, New York City has leveraged its location between major waterways to become an economic power, fueling its rapid expansion and growth through maritime trade. As shown by historical maps, New York’s accessibility to the Atlantic Ocean and location between the Hudson and East Rivers allowed it to connect the North American interior with the rest of the world. Despite the physical damage caused during the Revolutionary War, New York City quickly recovered, increasing its population and becoming the nation’s largest urban center. That growth has continued to this day, as the city remains a major port and home to over eight million people.⁹

Bibliography

Brown, Richard H, and Paul E Cohen. Revolution: Mapping the Road to American Independence, 1755-1783. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.

Clark, Ellen, ed. “New York in the American Revolution: An Exhibition from the Library and Museum Collections of the Society of the Cincinnati.” American Revolution Institute. Anderson House Washington DC, 1998.

Kammen, Michael G. Colonial New York: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

McCurdy, John Gilbert. “From Fort George to the Fields: The Public Space and Military Geography of Revolutionary New York City.” Journal of Urban History 44, no. 4 (March 19, 2018): 625–42.

Middleton, Simon. From Privileges to Rights: Work and Politics in Colonial New York City. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.

Van Buskirk, Judith L. Generous Enemies: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New York. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.