“Whereupon the Citty and Fort Amsterdam and Province of the New Netherlands were surrendered under His Most Exct. Mat’s. Obedience, made and concluded the 27th. day of September 1664.”
– “Articles of Capitulation on the Reduction of New Netherland,” better known as the “Articles of Surrender of New Netherland” (signed on the 29th of September 1664) – the document that transformed the Dutch-speaking “New Amsterdam” into the English-speaking “New York City”
A television history of New York City, the largest city in the United States
It is the great paradox of New York City. On the one hand, it is a historic city, where many great historical events have taken place. But, on the other hand, very little of it looks anything like it once did. Most cities have made inroads upon the local environment, turning natural wildernesses into sprawling urban landscapes. But even the more urban landmarks of New York City are often destroyed, to build something else in their place. And, on a different note, the city’s history is, in many ways, a microcosm of the larger history of the United States. In the history of this one city, you see conflict between different groups – between long-standing families and relatively recent immigrants. You see conflict between management and labor, between city and state concerns, and between local and national concerns. And you see national economic trends realized on the local level – from the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, to the “Roaring Twenties” and the Great Depression. Most of the greatest conflicts of American history can, to some degree, be seen here in the history of this one city. Thus, PBS gave filmmaker Ric Burns the green light … to produce a television history of the city. In the DVD set that I’ve been watching, I have seen 17 hours of great storytelling. They cover the city’s initial seventeenth-century colonization by the Dutch to the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001 – and beyond! It is an engrossing yarn, and might merit a brief overview in this blog post.
New Amsterdam in 1664 – the predecessor of New York City
The Dutch city of New Amsterdam becomes the British (then American) “New York City”
Manhattan Island was originally bought for about 60 Dutch guilders, once the equivalent of $24 in American money. Naturally, this story has since become infamous. The Dutch then created a colony, which they named “New Netherland” – with its capital at New Amsterdam. From the beginning of the colonization, the city was a place to make a buck – or, more literally, to make a guilder. Later on, the British took over New Netherland, and changed “New Amsterdam” to New York City. In the American Revolution, the city then became part of the United States, and it has been such ever since. The first episode also gives brief mention of Alexander Hamilton, and of the early real estate deals in the city. The second episode extensively covers the construction of the Erie Canal, which linked the Atlantic Ocean with inland Lake Erie. They also cover the construction of Central Park, one of the few “natural” environments to be left in the city today – although it is still somewhat artificial. This episode also covers the Draft Riots of 1863, by Irish Americans against the Civil War. The third episode covers the Gilded Age, with the infamous establishment of Tammany Hall. They also mention the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge – dramatized in a film by Ric’s more famous brother Ken Burns. This was the era in which Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island were annexed into New York City. Thus, overnight, New York City became the largest city in the world – although it has since been overtaken in this regard.
View of New York Harbor (during the British era), 1727
Broadway at 42nd Street – New York City, 1898
Subway construction, immigration, and cultural currents like the Harlem Renaissance
In the fourth episode, they cover the building of skyscrapers and the subway system. They also show the flood of new immigrants, mostly from European countries. This included much Jewish immigration, which has always been important to the city. There is mention of labor conditions and poverty during the early twentieth century. But this episode culminates in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, a major catalyst in the city’s political history. This gave the impetus to movements for industrial reform. The fifth episode focuses primarily on the “Roaring Twenties.” Among other things, Manhattan arguably became the cultural capital of the world. Radio, magazines, advertising, and public relations all came out of New York City (among other places). They also cover the Harlem Renaissance, including the era’s incomparable jazz. They mention the saga of Al Smith in New York, and his failure to become president of the United States. When the stock market crashed, New York City (like the rest of the nation) was soon sucked into the Great Depression. But, in spite of the Depression, there were two major construction projects during this era. One was the Chrysler Building, and the other was the Empire State Building.
Triangle Shirtwaist fire – New York City, 1911
Photograph from the construction of the Empire State Building – New York City, 1931
Great Depression, New Deal, further public works projects, and more immigration
The sixth episode delves further into the Great Depression, with the political demise of Mayor Jimmy Walker. But they also cover the administration of Fiorello LaGuardia, one of the more colorful mayors in the city’s history – although not always sympathetic. LaGuardia’s methods were a prototype for FDR’s New Deal, in which New-York-style politics began to be implemented nationally. This was arguably the zenith of New York’s political influence on the United States. Later on, Washington DC would become far more influential on the nation’s politics – including the state and local politics. They also mention further public works projects, and the legacy of Robert Moses for the city’s automobile usage. This theme is continued into the seventh episode, with Robert Moses’s campaign of urban renewal. Specifically, this involved a campaign to add more highways to the city. This campaign arguably involved an excessive use of eminent domain powers, to create the Lower Manhattan Expressway. These abuses caused protests that finally put a stop to them. They also mention increased Puerto Rican and African American immigration to the city. After the destruction of Penn Station in 1963, there was a New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. This would have a lasting effect upon the urban renewal projects of later years.
Interior of Penn Station, a famous New York City landmark, in the 1930s
Lower Manhattan, as seen from a ferry – New York City, December 1941
City financial crisis, federal bailouts, and the massive terrorist attacks of 9/11
In the 1960s and 1970s, social and financial crises eventually took a toll on the city, as the city effectively went bankrupt. After some federal bailouts with strings attached, the city cut some services, balanced its budget, and started to pay off its massive debts. Thus, New York City finally started to come out of its financial crisis. This seventh episode, incidentally, came out in 2001 – just a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks. It went up to what was then the “present day,” but it did not cover the then-recent events of 9/11. This was because it would have taken time to add enough material to do justice to that topic. This may be why an eighth episode was later added in 2003. This extra episode first covered the initial construction of the World Trade Center, which would soon become even taller than the Empire State Building. They cover the World Trade Center’s initial struggle to pay for itself, and its eventual climb into profitability. Finally, they cover the destruction of these Twin Towers on 9/11, a major epoch in the history of the city. They also briefly cover the recovery from the terrorist attacks, under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Lower Manhattan on September 11th, 2001 – the day of the infamous terrorist attacks
Conclusion: Great storytelling, which is likely to appeal to history buffs from all over
This series sometimes has issues with bias, particularly in its later episodes. Sadly, this is an all-too-common pattern in epic television histories, as I have noted elsewhere. But these episodes actually seem to be good despite the bias, and use period visuals to great effect. As much as anything else, this film is just great storytelling. I live in a small town in Arizona, and would probably dislike the urban bustle of living in New York City. I might like using the subway to commute to work, but that would probably be it. I’ve only visited the city once, although I did enjoy my brief time there – including the subway rides. Nonetheless, I still truly love this film, and enjoy seeing the many images from the time. For example, I enjoyed seeing silent footage of a subway ride from 1903. In part, it may be because life in New York is so different from anything that I’ve known, that I find this series to be so interesting. Regardless of one’s feelings on the merits of urban or suburban (or, for that matter, rural) life, one is likely to enjoy this series … if one just likes American history, that is. I wish that something like this were done about London or Paris – or, more locally, about Chicago or Los Angeles. There’s a lot to be said about a more localized approach to history, using it as a microcosm for larger forces and stories. And there are a lot of interesting stories in this series, both of the large and small varieties. It may not always be representative of life in America as a whole, but parts of it certainly seem to be such. I highly recommend this series to anyone interested in larger American history. Moreover, I wish that more films like this could be made in the future.
Footnote to this blog post:
New York City may be most famous internationally as the location of the headquarters of the United Nations. The construction on the headquarters began in 1948, and was completed in 1952.
Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate marketer, and can sometimes make money when you buy the product using the link(s) above.
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