Why New York City?
While Boston and Philadelphia still dominate the national imagination, New York consistently lay at the center of the events surrounding Independence. Participants on both sides of the Atlantic viewed it as the most important location in the colonial rebellion, the war, and the US founding. Yet that history is largely forgotten. How did it go from the unofficial capital of British North America to the leading site of rebellion in just a few years? How did it manage the lawlessness and vigilantism of the era, including seven years of brutal military occupation as the headquarters of imperial forces? How was it reborn as the first capital of the new republic, only to be quickly displaced? These are merely some of the questions this project will answer, returning New York to its rightful place as the “city at the heart of the Revolution.”
The First Civil War
Shifting the geography has powerful consequences. In New York, the violence and polarization of the era come into sharp focus. As the leading economic, military, and political hub of the British empire in North America, it was the epicenter of what many historians now refer to as “the first civil war.” Its unusually democratic population clashed bitterly over Parliament’s new laws and regulations during the Imperial Crisis (1763-75). It became a sanctuary for upwards of 40,000 refugees during the Revolution, and the final resting place for most rebel soldiers, perhaps 18,000 dying as P.O.W.’s. The conflict also divided the powerful “Iroquois” Confederation in the western and northern part of the state, and caused massive upheaval for the institution of slavery. The discord continued after Independence, when New York served as the first US capital and the base for most elite Founders in the close struggles over the reintegration of an enormous Loyalist population and the nationalization of the economy and government, during the Critical Period (1784-89).
A More Diverse, Complex History
New York thus offers a more diverse and complex history than is common or traditional. As the major site of both rebellion and royalism during the Imperial Crisis, it forces us to remember the divisiveness of Independence. As British military headquarters during the War, it demands we look at the Revolution from the view of the “enemy” — including the colonists who remained “loyal” or “neutral” at the start, an estimated majority of the population. As the haven of so many fugitives and displaced persons, it reminds us of the conflict’s forgotten brutality, the suffering of the neglected home front, and the unappreciated struggle for hearts and minds. And it broadens and complicates the narrative further by spotlighting groups that have often been excluded. Greater New York became an “island of freedom” for half the number of runaways during this “first emancipation,” with free and enslaved Blacks on each side playing crucial roles that helped set in motion the birth of abolition. It also saw the downfall of North America’s most powerful Indigenous military league, who likewise divided and became key players in this critical theater of war. Both the moral contradictions of the Revolution, and its foundational nature in the evolution of American democracy, rise to center-stage in New York because of the unrivaled diversity of its population.
Credits
This website made possible by generous support of the Achelis & Bodman Foundation
NYC Revolutionary Trail is a project of
The Gotham Center for New York City History
at The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY)
Project Director and Lead Researcher / Writer / Curator: Peter-Christian Aigner
Project Co-Founder: Ted Knudsen
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Web Design: J. Katie Mann
Illustrations: Anita Rundles
Audio Production, Editing & Narration: Lisa Gosselin (CUNY TV), Michelle Figueroa, Chris Howerton, Peter-Christian Aigner
Video Production, Editing & Curation: Shawn Punch, Katrina Kozarek, Ted Knudsen
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Scavenger Hunt & Educational Curricula: Andrew Meyers & Tanya Gallo (Living City Project), Anne Ballman (Hoboken Charter School)
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Advisory Board
CUNY: Carol Berkin (emerita), John Blanton, Benjamin L. Carp, John Dixon, Prithi Kanakamedala, Andrew Robertson, Jonathan Sassi, Gunja SenGupta, Annie Valk, David Waldstreicher, Mike Wallace (emeritus)
Jennifer Anderson (SUNY Stony Brook), Myra Armstead (Bard College), Wendy Bellion (University of Delaware), Katherine Carté (Southern Methodist University), Leslie Harris (Northwestern University), Michael Hattem (Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute), Ricardo Herrera (US Army War College), Christopher F. Minty (University of Virginia), Brett Palfreyman (Wagner College)
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Supplemental Research and Writing: Blake McGready & Ted Knudsen
Initial Content Review: Helena Yoo, Cody Nager, Jessica Georges, Alex Gambaccini, Miriam Liebman,
Israel Ben-Porat, Arinn Amer, John Winters, Andrew Lang, Madeline Lafuse, Alex Baltovski, Evan Turiano
Additional Support Provided by Interns of CUNY’s PublicsLab (Danielle Bennett, Lisa Hirschfield, Stephanie Barnes, Thomas Blaber),
and CUNY’s Macaulay Honors Program (Gabriella Feeney)