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History of New Netherland: Difference between revisions
partial 19th century lore
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But despite the protests, Director Eleazar Henryckszoon announced the colony’s surrender. He put New Netherland at the British disposal on November 1795 on paper. However, the particularists were outraged at the hasty decision-making and the lack of public involvement in the decision.
===The Particularist Revolt (1795)===
The Dutch Colonial Force had suffered massive defection and desertion by their troops, due to the demoralizing surrender to the British. Some particularists, however, saw this as an opportunity to remove the Orangists from power. In 1796, Claes van der Beeke, a wealthy patroon who controlled a large militia, planned a coup d’etat in Spring 1796, using a combined force of his militia and NNL-Kommando defectors. This army was called the Vrÿheydsleger (lit. Freedom Army, although this did not imply independence, rather freedom from British occupation). Claes’ son, Marÿn van der Beeke, led this army and marched to New Amsterdam to seize control of the city.
On April 2, 1796, the Prinsenvlag was once again flown at the Unity Palace (seat of colonial government), after the Vrÿheydsleger defeated the army stationed at Fort New Amsterdam.
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After the successful independence of New Netherland in 1796, the new government started to claim lands owned by the Iroquois. Before their independence, New Netherland was already allowed by the Iroquois to build settlements inside their land, in exchange for a quarterly land due. However, with New Netherland's independence, the Iroquois confederacy was wary if the new government would continue to pay their dues. A few years later, the new government claimed a vast portion of Iroquois land as part of New Netherland, but promised that they would still pay the dues that the government owes them. Despite the promise, some nations inside the confederacy (most notably the Seneca and the Cayuga) protested the claims, pointing the violation of their sovereignty. The Grand Council of the confederacy convened multiple times with the agenda of how to resolve the conflicting claims. The Cayuga and Seneca advocated that they move south, away from New Netherland, as a means to preserve their sovereignty, while the others voted to retain in their traditional homeland. Unable to come to a conclusion, the Seneca and Cayuga led a migration down south and became protectorates of the Dutch, thus ending the confederacy.
==Post-Independence (The Patroon Period, 19th Century)==
=== The New Patroon Government, under Marÿn van der Beeke, first stadtholder of New Netherland (1796-1830) ===
[[File:MarynVanBeeke.jpeg|alt=|left|thumb|206x206px|Maryn van der Beeke, first stadtholder of New Netherland]]
The patroons had convened in the capital to decide a new form of government. They agreed on a new constitution: New Netherland was to be led by a ''stadtholder'', which was to be elected by a Patroon Council. The term of the stadtholder would end once he dies or his health is deteriorating to a point where he no longer can lead. The first stadtholder elected was Marÿn van der Beeke, the famous New Netherlander general who had captured the city of New Amsterdam from the former colonial government. The council chose him for his popularity among the rural classes and his prestigious patroon status as the son of one of the largest patroons in New Netherland.
He officially took the office on September 17, 1796. His policies would be known for compromises between the rural agricultural workers and the patroons. Later into his reign, he showed tendencies to favor the rural peasantry, implementing acts that improved the lifestyle of the agricultural workers and obliged the patroons to give better and more just compensation to their farmers. The rural peasantry and the liberal-minded patroons lauded him, but he made political opponents in the conservative circle of patroons. In the 1820s, his health became a heated discussion among the Patroon Council when rumors circulated that van der Beeke had contracted syphilis from his numerous affairs with women, which according to his biggest political opponent and fellow patroon Hendrick van Ackerhuys was grounds for his impeachment from the stadholderateship (on the grounds of ''deteriorating health''). This attempt was dismissed by the Patroon Council due to lack of evidence. Van der Beeke dismissed the rumors as an attempt to destabilize the young republic.
Van Beeke harbored strong anti-Orangist and anti-British views. He sought friendlier relations with the republican government in France and fostered a good relationship with the separatist circles in Virginia. During his rule, no bilateral diplomatic relations was opened with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
In 1830, Van der Beeke died under dubious circumstances in his private manor in 1830 (reported to have been a falling accident). The Patroon Council quickly convened to secure the succession of the stadtholderateship, and a successor was chosen: Hendrick van Ackerhuys.
[[File:HendrikVanAckerhuys.jpg|alt=|thumb|259x259px|Hendrick van Ackerhuys, second stadtholder]]
=== New Netherland under Hendrick van Ackerhuys (1830-1855) ===
[[Hendrik van Ackerhuys]] styled himself as simply Hendrick and started his reign in 1830. In a complete reversal of his predecessor's policies, he sought to have normalized relations with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
He was initially favored by both the patroons and the rural peasantry, but multiple scandals had tainted his reign as years passed. He was engaged in the corruption and siphoning of the state government fund and confiscating lands owned by his political opponents (such as the confiscation of van der Beeke's manor north of New Amsterdam).
In 1835, he penned the Decree on New Netherland Succession, which made the stadtholderateship hereditary on the grounds of protecting the continuity and stability of the government. This action evoked mixed but primarily adverse reactions within the Patroon Council, which now had been demoted to an advisory role. However, he was able to gain the support of several patroons through bribery and negotiation with the patroons (giving land confiscated from political enemies, political favors, etc.). In 1838, he gains de-facto absolute power when he got the military to support him in his exploits. The military under his rule was centralized. Some of the patroons tried to muster their militias and staged multiple minor revolts, but none were successful.
In 1841, he disbanded the Kommando System that had been in place since the late 1650s, confiscating weapons issued to the town militias. Despite these actions, he was lauded by the common folk for taking a stand against the Patroons and securing their loyalty by enacting the Agricultural Act of 1841, which set a standardized ceiling for the agricultural tax that the patroons were able to tax on the farmers.
When the Canton War between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Great Britain erupted in 1850, the Kingdom of the Netherlands convinced New Netherland to aid them in attacking the British in New England, without the Patroon Council's knowledge. Furthermore, Van Ackerhuys was promised personal fortune and land claims for New Netherland stretching westward up to Boston, [[New England]] after the war was over. Eventually, the truth behind the secret affair was unraveled, and the Patroon Council protested the mobilization of troops but could not stop it. Ultimately, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and New Netherland lost the war, tanking van Ackerhuys popularity in all social classes in New Netherland. Fearing a coup, van Ackerhuys agreed to abdicate the stadtholderateship in favor of his liberal-minded son, Lodewijk van Ackerhuys.
=== New Netherland under Lodewijk van Ackerhuys (1855-1903), Industrialization, and the Rise of Private Companies ===
- Mention his involvement in subduing the revolts in Daesemus, and was awarded the ABC islands in exchange.
- Becomes a toadie of the Dutch
- Old age makes him disconnected with the public, still goes to Boer war thinking that it would boost his popularity since clearly they were gonna win against Mexico, and also yeah he was just a toady. Apparently a bad decision.
- He rules until very old age, even reaching the republican revolution. Then he just escapes/disappears/dies, with the republicans filling the void in power.
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