Russell Shorto’s Island Merger: A book review of “Taking Manhattan”

The Island at the Center of the World” left the reader to contemplate the Dutch origins of New York’s unique cultural stream, as Petrus Stuyvesant attempted to rally resistance to the English fleet, that now faced down the nascent colonial enterprise perched precariously on the tip of Manhattan. On March 8th, The Friends of Philipse Manor Hall were honored to host award winning Author Russell Shorto, where we were treated to an incredible presentation to mark the release of his followup work entitled ‘Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events that Created New York and Shaped America.” If his first work unveiled a little known parental lineage of New York’s historical roots, his new work introduced us to the marriage union that would help birth the eventual American Republic.

There is a great creative evolutionary arc to be glimpsed here between his two books, not only are we introduced to a new cast of historical actors from the English side, but we are also treated to a buttressed former narrative, that is strengthened by its focus on individuals. Shorto’s development of his examination lens can best be summed up by his approach to history “If reconciling these parts of our history feels impossible, maybe we are trying to do too much. Maybe for a start we simply need to unearth these pieces of the past like archeologists digging up artifacts, brush them off, and see them in the clear light of day.” It’s a refreshing way of letting the evidence drive the story and results in a work that both highlights previously dismissed narratives, while also resisting the urge to frame past events through acts of “presentism.” Shorto delivers a narrative that doesn’t shy away from the trials and tribulations of the past, but instead helps to create a broader understanding of our historical American roots. His insistence that ‘New York was New York, even before it was New York,” sets the stage for a journey back to that pivotal moment, where the future of New Amsterdam hangs in the air. The author stated in his presentation that the crux of any good story is conflict, so in his first work we were exposed to several different points of contention, Stuyvesant versus Adriaen van der Donck was the main framework around which his original book was constructed. While the new work focuses on Stuyvesant and his English counterpart Richard Nicoll’s, Shorto elevates the Native, African, Religious and Gender elements of the narrative as well.

We are introduced to the Ramapough Munsee-Lenape Band, a New Jersey recognized Native tribe whose some-what unorthodox office space in lower Manhattan, obscures a greater fact that the original Native presence in this land has never been wiped away, it can be found by any who make the effort. We hear of Quashawam of the Montaukett Peoples, a young woman thrust into leadership due to the pandemics reshaping the native world, as she tried to partner with the Dutch. Her efforts were rebuffed and she instead chose to ally herself with the English, denying the Dutch the forewarning of their attack. He expands on the original “Deed to Manhattan,” by clarifying that native tribes did indeed have an idea of territorial control, but this was shared among the commons. The agreement to “sell” the island wouldn’t have been an individual act on the behalf of a local Munsee-Lenape Sachem, but instead the end result of a long communal process of consensus, that included Dutch representatives. Given the disparity in strength at the time of the “purchase,” native tribes certainly didn’t do this under duress. The sixty guilders payment is reframed as the value of a set of customary gifts to be made to seal a treaty of this sort. I didn’t realize to the extent that the entire small community of colonists took part in the “signing” ceremony and the gift exchange. This was followed up by a feast to mark the occasion, with a personal gift exchange via firelight, which bound the first settlers to the Native peoples, in an intimate manner. It’s an interesting aside that illuminates a possible peaceful future that will not hold.

A strong sense of female agency continues to permeate the work, as the story of Dorothy Angola illustrates. An enslaved woman who came to New Amsterdam via a seized Portuguese Slave vessel. She rose to lead the burgeoning African community by the time of her city’s fall to the English in 1664. At the moment when the British flotilla was positioned off Manhattan, several enslaved WIC enslaved Africans approached Stuyvesant, as he was finishing up holding urgent meetings. This mixed group of men and women had previously applied for half-freedom and they were told this would be granted when the fort was repaired and a new shipment of enslaved arrived to take their place. Well it just so happened this group had finished the repairs required and there was a slave ship sitting in the harbor at the very moment, having arrived from West Africa not but a few days before the English fleet arrived. Their argument was that if the city fell to the invaders, they wanted official documentation of their “half-freedom”grants, unsure how a new English regime would view their current status. Stuyvesant listened patiently and then quietly granted their request., Dorothy Angola was amongst them. The former Governor-General and his Secretary Van Ruyven, conspired to forge documents after the English transfer, all in an attempt to secure the position of former freed peoples on the Island. Nicoll’s had them arrested, but downgraded the charges and finally dropped the issue. After listening to the men justify their actions, Nicoll’s ended up confirming the freed status of the forged document recipients. Shorto also highlighted the life of Margaret Hardenbroeck, Matriarch of the Philipse Dynasty and impetus behind the construction of Philipse Manor Hall. We can imagine Margaret years after the English takeover, recalling her days as a Super-cargo on the dangerous high seas, from her favorite smoking perch over the half opened Dutch double door, but the female mercantilist role in the colony’s development was undeniable.

In order to frame the proper historical context to the reader, Shorto outlines the basic premise of the English Civil War, with its impact on both imperial expansion and a deadly cycle of warfare with the Dutch. Being transported through this dizzying world of geopolitical changes can be confusing, so the narrative provides the lives of Richard Nicolls and John Winthrop to guide us. Shorto provides what amounts to a mini-biographical study of Nicoll’s life, demonstrating how his loyalty to the House of Stuart and his experience in the Civil War mediated his temperament, making it more likely that he would seek to preserve the unique nature of Netherland, instead of planting his royal standard on a pile of ashes. Pairing with Nicoll’s is another historical character of mediating mindset, John Winthrop. Shorto remarks “And the effervescent, messy society that resulted would become a countervailing influence throughout much of American history to the dour, self-righteous, theocratic Puritan sect centered in Boston,” Winthrop’s life is framed through this backdrop. His attempts to preserve a greater sense of religious freedom and loyalty to the English Crown, had allowed him to parlay his vision into a royal charter for the Colony of Connecticut. When Nicoll’s arrived to seize NY, here was a man that had dealt with both Stuyvesant and shown greater toleration for his Dutch neighbors, he would be instrumental in avoiding violence. 

I truly enjoyed how Shorto framed Stuyvesant’s rapid movements to quell both a Native conflict engulfing Albany and efforts to halt the English attack back down the river at Nieuw Amsterdam. An almost Harold Godwinson “Hastings” like quality adds a bit of dramatic intrigue to the episode. We are treated to a marvelous depiction of the surrender negotiations, with Stuyvesant holding out, but balanced by a restive civilian population eager to avoid bloodshed. On the other side you have Nicoll’s, whose meticulous study of both the Dutch colony and his unique room for self-maneuver, allowed him to tact toward a peaceful solution that focused on preserving the city. Eased by intertwined relationships on both sides, a compromise to preserve the “special sauce” of a future New York was agreed upon. Shorto makes clear that the inhabitants and leadership of New Netherland understood their cultural experiment held value and they used this as leverage to obtain not a surrender, but instead something akin to a “merger.”

The Island at the Center of the World,” was groundbreaking, but Russell Shorto certainly doesn’t disappoint here by bringing an incredibly strong follow-up. One that contains the same narrative shattering clarity, produced via meticulous documentary investigations and will most likely result in well deserved award-winning recognition once again. If the “Center of the World” unveiled the genesis of one parental lineage of the future New York, “Taking Manhattan” can be seen as an effort to complete that narrative by highlighting the English role. We end up with a merger of not only the Anglo-Dutch of New York, but of the Dutch and English state via the Glorious Revolution, making the story of Manhattan a microcosm of world affairs, a position it still occupies to this very day.