DUTCH AND SWEDISH CULTURE
In Colonial America
BY ROGERS W. YOUNG,
ASSISTANT HISTORICAL TECHNICIAN
BRANCH OF HISTORIC SITES
WASHINGTON
Gloria Dei Church A view of Old Swedes Church from the southwest |
Historical thought in this country has gradually felt
the need for a more adequate recognition of the valuable contribution of
Dutch and Swedish culture and economy to the colonial life of America
and its posterity. Bearing this in mind, it is believed that a
consideration of certain historic sites associated with seventeenth and
eighteenth century Dutch and Swedish settlements would be helpful in
evaluating the influence of the two colonial cultures on our national
development. While the sites exemplifying these cultures are
representative of a smaller segment of American colonial life than that
influenced by Spanish, English and, to a lesser degree, French culture,
they are nonetheless important as remains of an essential part of our
great colonial tradition and heritage. No definitive commemoration of
every important phase of our colonial development could afford to ignore
the national influence of a Dutch and Swedish colonial culture from
which has sprung such figures as Pierre Van Cortlandt, Frederick
Philipse, II, Philip Schuyler, Martin Van Buren, Theodore and Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, John Morton and John Ericsson.
Through the agency of the Dutch and Swedish pioneers
in North America, two of the most important geographic regions on the
eastern seaboard were opened for commercial development and permanent
colonization. The Dutch in the Hudson Valley and the Swedish in the
Delaware valley with their pioneer trading posts and later plantation
settlements overcame the physical and human hardships of the wilderness
and laid the colonial foundation upon which the permanent English
settlement of these regions was established in due course. While the
actual period of Dutch and Swedish colonial sovereignty were
comparatively brief, the influence of the culture and economy of these
sturdy European elements continued dominant in both regions until the
Revolution, despite their political control by the English. The
penetration of the Dutch into New York and northern New Jersey, and of
the Swedes into Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey
provided these areas with a fundamental European culture which strongly
influenced their subsequent development as English colonies and American
states, and of which remains are observable even today.
Failure in the past to recognize the importance of
Swedish contributions to American colonial life has resulted in the
nearly complete disappearance of physical remains from this valuable
colonial culture. The Swedes in the Delaware valley proved to be better
agriculturists than aggressive colonists or traders, and as pioneer
farmers in this region made a definite contribution to the development
of American agriculture. In constructing domestic dwellings and farm
buildings the Swedes adapted their European log dwellings to colonial
conditions and introduced into America the log cabin or house, which
appears to have become the prototype of all such structures throughout
the American colonies. In addition to this unique type of domestic
architecture, of which no unaltered examples exist, the Swedes produced
an interesting church architecture, which more or less faithfully
followed native Swedish designs. The only important examples of Swedish
colonial institutional architecture existing are Holy Trinity (Old
Swedes) Church at Wilmington, Delaware, completed 1699, and Gloria Dei
(Old Swedes) Church, Philadelphia, completed 1700, both of which are
still used for religious services. They are both significant examples of
American colonial architecture. These two edifices are symbols of the
innate piety and highest cultural aspirations of the Swedish element.
They are also eloquent reminders of the Swedish belief in the principle
of religious freedom, and their practice of religious tolerance in an
age of religious bigotry. Although devoted to the service of
Lutheranism, which the Swedes introduced in the Delaware valley, their
walls ministered to all sects impartially.
SIGNIFICANT HISTORIC SITES REPRESENTING DUTCH AND SWEDISH COLONIAL SETTLEMENTS IN AMERICA DURING THE SEVENTEETH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES
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Physical remains of Swedish political activity have
long since disappeared from the Delaware valley. The Swedish court
structures, where colonial juries first sat in this region, have
vanished, although their system of justice was adopted by William Penn
for his colony. While no surface remains exist at the two seats of the
Swedish Colonial government, the sites have received official
recognition in recent years. Considerable public interest in Swedish
colonial sites was engendered by the Swedish Tercentenary Celebrations
held in Delaware and Pennsylvania during 1938. During that year,
Delaware established Fort Christina State Park at Wilmington, on the
site of Fort Christina, which was the capital of New Sweden from 1638 to
1643, and again from 1654 to the end of Swedish sovereignty in 1655.
Tinicum Island (Pennsylvania) , on the Delaware, was capital of the
Swedish colony from 1643 to 1653. On a portion of the site of the
Tinicum Island settlement, Pennsylvania established the Johan Printz
State Park in 1938.
The establishment of Dutch and Swedish settlements in
America was a small but nevertheless significant phase of the great
European movement for colonization of the New World in the seventeenth
century. Both colonies were proprietary provinces controlled by European
trading companies. Although launched primarily to trade and colonize on
the Delaware, the Swedish colony received poor support from Sweden and
in the face of Dutch commercial competition turned to agricultural
settlement and finally relinquished to the Dutch all political
sovereignty in the region. New Netherland was established during the
Dutch struggle for control of the world carrying trade, and gave Holland
a North American foothold in her growing competition with England.
Designed primarily as a commercial venture expected to produce tangible
profits from trade, the Dutch colony originally consisted of a series of
trading settlements, with little effort being made to undertake
agricultural colonization.
The course of Dutch settlement in America was
influenced not only by its definite economic motive but also by the
geography of the region selected for development. Along the mighty
Hudson, from its mouth to the head of navigation, Dutch trading posts
were established in the fertile valley and the region was loosely knit
into a province by a natural highway which provided communication and
transportation for merchandise. The natural point of deposit and
transshipment of merchandise was at the mouth of the river and here
logically was established the social, economic and political center of
the colony in the settlement of New Amsterdam. To provide direct
economic and political control of a widespread trading region, which
also in claim at least embraced the Connecticut and Delaware valleys as
well as the Hudson, a strong executive was placed at Fort Amsterdam, and
little self-government was exercised by the outlying trading settlements
until late in the Dutch period. Trade remained the paramount activity of
the Dutch colony until about 1650 when efforts were underway to expand
the Hudson frontier through agricultural colonization. Development of
landed agricultural domains was first unsuccessfully attempted by the
Dutch through the patroonship system. This social, economic and
political experiment succeeded better in the hands of the Dutch element
when the manor system was established during the English provincial
period in New York.
Van Cortlandt Manor House
Looking northward at the front of the Van Cortlandt Manor House. The nineteenth century wings may be seen at the rear of the main portion of the structure. The nineteenth century veranda masks the high front basement, which reputedly dates from the seventeenth century |
The English conquest of 1664 brought Dutch
sovereignty to an end, but for over a century afterward Dutch influence
continued dominant in local political activity, social life,
agricultural pursuits and architectural developments throughout much of
New York and northern New Jersey. Although the British had absorbed the
Hudson settlements when they proved a threat to the expansion of the
English colonial empire, once the transfer of sovereignty was made the
British did little to alter the pattern of culture and economy in the
old Dutch colony. The most significant sites of Dutch colonial activity
would include public and private structures exemplifying social life,
commercial occupation and political organization. Few, indeed, are Dutch
private structures remaining to day which can be identified positively
as ante-dating the English conquest of 1664. Of Dutch public structures
erected prior to 1664, including the several forts and trading posts,
there are no remains extant. Therefore, the chief sites worthy of
present consideration will he found to have been established under Dutch
influence and tradition between 1664 and 1776.
The political, economic, social, architectural and
religious contributions made by Dutch colonial activity in America can
be illustrated by certain significant sites. The site most
representative of the centralized Dutch colonial government, commercial
activity and colonial town society, is unquestionably that of Fort
Amsterdam, the nucleus of New Amsterdam, the capital and trading center
of New Netherland. While no remains exist at the site, it is in public
ownership.
A notable contribution from Dutch colonial culture
was an architectural form, reputed to be one of the earliest true
indigenous designs evolved during the development of American
architecture. This is the so-called Dutch colonial type, which was an
adaptation of European Dutch design to meet colonial living conditions.
Guided by the criteria of obvious age, architectural merit and historic
value, a study of the examples of Dutch colonial domestic architecture
mow existing in northern New Jersey and New York has revealed two
especially important structures in Westchester County, New York. The Van
Cortlandt Manor House, at Harmon, is an unusually splendid example of a
Dutch colonial country residence. Philipse Manor Hall, at Yonkers, on
the other hand, is a fine and pretentious mansion, peculiarly
representative of the architectural elegance attained by the elite class
of Dutch colonial society. Furthermore, these two fine structures are
representative physical remains of the manor or land-owning system, that
interesting social, economic and political entity of Dutch colonial
society on the Hudson.
The colony of New Netherland made a contribution to
colonial religious history when it introduced the Dutch Reformed Church
into North America. Established in an age of religious bigotry in
Europe, the Dutch colony was a landmark in the struggle for the freedom
of religious conscience in the New World. Despite the existence of an
established church in New Netherland, during the early Dutch period the
colony be came an asylum for persecuted beliefs in Europe and the other
American colonies. The fundamental Dutch tolerance prevailed over
Stuyvesant's brief religious tyranny and was largely the cause for the
early establishment of a cosmopolitan atmosphere in New Amsterdam and
New York. Sleepy Hollow Church, at Tarrytown, is perhaps the finest
existing representative of the splendid tradition of Dutch colonial
religious activity. Structurally, this venerable religious edifice is a
distinctive and even unique example of Dutch colonial institutional
architecture in the Hudson valley.
Public interest has long been manifested in the need
for the preservation of Dutch colonial sites. In past years, the States
of New York and New Jersey, certain cities and counties in these States,
and patriotic organizations and societies have gradually acquired for
preservation a select group of interesting examples of Dutch colonial
architecture, which have valuable historical associations. This group
includes several noteworthy houses deserving of special mention. As
early as 1849 New York acquired the Jonathan Hasbrouck House at
Newburgh, which served as Washington's headquarters in 1782-1783, and is
now maintained as a public museum. he De Clarke-De Wint House at
Tappan, New York, Washington's headquarters in 1780 and 1783, is
maintained as a museum by the Masonic Order. Philipse Manor Hall at
Yonkers was presented to New York in 1908 and has been developed as a
museum by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society which
acts as custodian. The Britton-Cubberly House on Staten Island is
maintained by the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences. Included
in the New York City park system and maintained as public museums are:
the Cornell-Schenck House, Highland Park; the Pieter Lefferts House,
Prospect Park; and the Van Cortlandt Mansion, in Van Cortlandt Park. In
New Jersey, the state maintains the Zabriskie-Steuben House at New
Bridge as a public museum. The Dirck Day House at Lower Preakness, New
Jersey, Washington's headquarters, 1780, is owned and maintained by the
Passaic County Park Commission.
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