The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and the founding figures of early America

Special Identifications in History; Person, Event and Place

Transition from New Amsterdam to New York (1664)

New York City is located right at the mouth of the Hudson River. The first European power to visit New York was the Dutch in 1624. The land caught the attention of the administration in Netherlands. The Dutch West India Company hoped to explore the region's fur trade. Peter Minuit purchased a major real estate. Peter traded trinkets with natives for the island of Manhattan in 1626. A new town was set up there and was called New Amsterdam. The colony sought to enrich the stockholders from the Netherlands. The first governor of New Amsterdam (Peter Stuyvesant) ruled it with decree and dictatorship. The Dutch West India Company thrived in slave trade.

The English focused their eyes on the Dutch holding after Charles II assumed the throne. Charles gave the land to his brother who was the Duke of York. He later officially owned it. The English invaded New Amsterdam in 1664 and forced the governor to relinquish New Amsterdam. It became New York (Lankevich, 2016).

New York is especially interesting because apart from its population, it is regarded as the most cosmopolitan city in the United States. It has great harbors and serves as a preferred headway to the major world oceans (Lankevich (2016).

George Washington: General and President

George Washington was born to a successful planter named Augustine and his wife named Mary Washington on the 22nd of February 1732. Washington was good in math and went on to become a surveyor. He took part in the Indian and French war between 1754 and 1763. He became commander in Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution (1775-83). He later served as the American president for two terms. He became a hero after he led his forces against the British. He was elected the head of the convention that was charged with writing the American constitution in 1787. It only took two years after this feat for him to become the first elected American President. He left a great legacy that constitutes, among others, strength, national purpose, and equality. He died at 67 in his Virginia plantation shortly after leaving presidency (Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia, 2016).

George is regarded as the father of the nation by many friends and foe. His image is ever seen on the face of the dollar bill. He is also displayed in many public places including schools, towns, and cities such as Washington City (Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia, 2016).

Alexander Hamilton

Born on 11th of January 1757 in the British West Indies in a place called Nevis, Alexander Hamilton was born to a Scottish trader named James Hamilton, and a French lady named Rachel Fawcett Lavine. James Hamilton abandoned his family when Alexander was still an infant. Life was tough for them. Alexander achieved a lot because he was intelligent and was willing to work. He arrived in America at the age of 15. He started a remarkable career there. He engaged in several development projects and is among the founders of the first national bank, the Mint and Tax collection bureau; now the Coast Guard. Alexander Hamilton died in 1804 in a duel with his rival in politics and the vice president of the time Aaron Blurr (Public Broadcasting Service, 2015).

Alexander Hamilton is one of the founding fathers of America. He may not have ascended to the presidency of his adapted, country but he made immense contribution to the political system. He supported Washington in the Revolution War. He assisted in the ratification of the constitution and protected the U.S. from financial ruin (Public Broadcasting Service, 2015).

Henry Hudson

This English explorer and navigator, was born in 1565. He tried to discover a shortcut from Europe to Asia. He sailed for several countries, once for the Dutch and three times for the English. He gave the famous Hudson River its name. Hudson is said to have been rather headstrong. He violated his contract with the Dutch and was unable to crash the mutiny of 1611. He was sucked into the temptation of playing favorite. Thus, the morale of his crew suffered. He appears indecisive in James Bay (Caswell, 2015).

According to Caswell (2015), although Hudson failed in many respects, his account is captivating because we are pointed to a man who undertook up dangerous voyages. He was a refined navigator and extended the exploration efforts of others such as Verrazano, Barents and Davis. He added a lot to the knowledge of geography. It is through his discoveries that the Dutch were able to colonize the Hudson River area and the areas that the English controlled in larger Canada. Hudson died in January 1611.

Abraham Lincoln in New York City

He is renowned for awakening America's sensitivities to moral and political consciousness. He was a champion of freedoms for all. He pointed out slavery as a morally and politically gross matter that threatened the fabric of America. He came from Illinois, but it is the designers, image and opinion shapers, journalists and New York politicians that crafted the plan that won him the republican ticket in the election of 1860. His assassination united New Yorkers who showed solidarity with him by filing in masses past his casket as he lay in state at City Hall (Pollard, 2016).

According to Pollard (1965), New York shaped Lincoln to be one of America's greatest statesmen. He represents freedom; a value that is deeply enshrined in the American constitution. His life-size statue in New York recaptures his big achievements in the fight for freedom.

Hudson River School (art)

The Hudson River School comprises a group of American landscape painters spanning several generations from 1825 to 1870. The name refers to similar intent as opposed to a geographic location. Some of the notable founders of Hudson River School include Asher Durand, Thomas Doughty and Thomas Cole. They all worked in the open and painted striking images of the wild and locations nearby; such as New England. All these painters had also studied in Europe, they were already stars in their own right at home, and had attained great feats in establishing the common idea of the splendor and beauty of interior-America (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2016).

The Hudson River School is the maiden native school for painters in the USA. This school cannot be ignored in American history because it celebrated American landscape national beauty and the desire by American artists to break off from European painting schools and ideas (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2016).