Birth of a City: Nieuw Amsterdam & Old New York

ADRIAEN VAN DER DONCK'S HOME
Location: ? Marketfield Street at Broad Street
Dutch Name: ? Het Marckvelt Steegie

In a house that stood a few feet from here lived lawyer Adriaen van der Donck (c. 1620 - c. 1655), author of the Remonstrance of New Netherland (1649). He wanted to persuade officials in the Dutch Republic to take over the Nieuw Nederland colony from the Dutch West India Company. Like other settlers, he also wanted Nieuw Amsterdam to have its own city government.

Many townspeople were frustrated with the Company. They were furious about a disastrous Indian war they blamed on Company blundering. In the Netherlands, people were used to having city governments to protect their rights, something they lacked on Manhattan.

Van der Donck failed in his efforts to get the Dutch government to assume control of the colony. But Director-General Stuyvesant and his council agreed to establish a municipality. In 1653, two burgomasters and five magistrates started running "this new and growing city of Nieuw Amsterdam" from the Stadt Huys (City Hall) on Pearl Street. By adapting Dutch institutions to life in the New World, colonists planted the roots of New York City's government.

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