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American Revolution

Cultural Heritage Fail: The American Revolution in NYS

June 22, 2014
by Peter Feinman

New York was an object of great importance during the American Revolution. At the kick off of the Path through History project in August 2012, plenary speaker Ken Jackson, Columbia University, criticized New York for its inadequate efforts to tell its story compared to what Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts are doing. He welcomed the opportunity that New York finally was going to get it right.

By coincidence, at the New York History community roundtable convened by Assemblyman Englebright several weeks ago in connection with his proposed New York History Commission, he began with a similar plea for New York to tell its story as well as those same states Jackson had mentioned 20 months earlier. He was particularly incensed over the new TV show Turn about America’s first spy ring set in the very community he represents. Continue reading “Cultural Heritage Fail: The American Revolution in NYS” →

New York History And The American Revolution

January 7, 2014
by Peter Feinman

In the first continental war, the French and Indian War, America fought with the British and against the French. That war was then followed by two others where “We the People” were not good, proud, loyal subjects of British king. We even allied with France against England. Imagine that!

The initial focus was on New York City. At that time, it was limited to southern Manhattan There the statue of King George would be toppled following a reading of the new Declaration of Independence in one of the iconic moments of the war. The remains of the statue would be smelted into bullets to be used against the King’s troops. Later, the sudden appearance of the British armada was a true “shock and awe” experience for the city. The Revolution was nearly nipped in the bud as a providential fog enabled Washington to cross the East River on August 29, 1776. Continue reading “New York History And The American Revolution” →

New York History and the Birth of the Nation

January 2, 2014
by Peter Feinman

Scholars divide time into periods in an effort to make history comprehensible, but when to draw the diving line can be problematical and historians often disagree where one period ends and another begins.

For the birth of the nation, I am using the end of the colonial period, roughly from the French and Indian War to the end of the War of 1812. The colonial era for me was the time of the settlement of the 13 colonies which would become the United States. That process began in Jamestown and ended approximately 130 years later in Georgia. Up until then individual colonies, notably New York, Massachusetts / New England, and Virginia, dominate the curriculum, scholarship, and tourism, with only passing references to the Quakers in Pennsylvania and the Dutch in New York. Continue reading “New York History and the Birth of the Nation” →

The Mixed Multitudes of the Mohawk Valley

December 30, 2013
by Peter Feinman

Peacefully sharing a space-time continuum does not come easily to our species. The challenge of doing so was played out in colonial New Amsterdam/New York in the 17th and 18th centuries especially from Albany and Schenectady westward throughout the Mohawk Valley.

There, and north to the Champlain Valley and Canada, multiple peoples who had not yet become two-dimensional cliches struggled to dominate, share, and survive in what became increasingly contentious terrain. Battles were fought, settlements were burned, and captives were taken, again and again.

By the 19th century, much of that world had vanished save for the novels of James Fenimore Cooper. By the 20th century, that world existed in state historic sites, historical societies and local museums, Hollywood, and at times in the state’s social studies curriculum. Continue reading “The Mixed Multitudes of the Mohawk Valley” →

Saratoga History and Tourism: Opportunities for New York

December 5, 2013
by Peter Feinman

Once upon a time many years ago, there was no tourism in America. And then there was. And the place where tourism began was here in New York State especially along the Hudson Valley.

The tourist explosion combined the artistic explosion generated by people like Irving, Cooper, and Cole along with technological developments like the steamship all New York State developments…and peace with England helped too!

Saratoga helped create this tourist boom. Continue reading “Saratoga History and Tourism: Opportunities for New York” →

The American Revolution: Perpetual Rebirth

August 28, 2013
by Peter Feinman

I would like to address some questions raised about my critique of the American Revolution Reborn conference.

I’d like to begin with Tara Lyons, of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. I have two conference handouts from her entitled “Museum Introduction for Refugee Students.” Under the objectives for the program is listed: Explain how this museum might help them learn about their new home.  She then turns to the task of how to achieve this objective:

Continue reading “The American Revolution: Perpetual Rebirth” →

Scholars in the Public Mind: American Revolution Reborn

August 20, 2013
by Peter Feinman

Thanks are due to Mike Zuckerman for his response to my series on the American Revolution Reborn conference which he organized. I appreciate his having read an unsolicited essay from a stranger whom he just met, for our extended email exchange, and for his contributing a post to New York History on this topic.

If I may, I would like to respond to his comments by separating them into two types: those that addressed the conference itself and those that refer to the more general question of America’s identity. Continue reading “Scholars in the Public Mind: American Revolution Reborn” →

The American Revolution Reborn:New Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century

July 27, 2013
by Peter Feinman

As July 4 nears, the issues raised at the conference seem particularly appropriate for us both as Americans and New Yorkers with many historic sites related to that war.

The American Revolution Reborn: New Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century conference was held on May 30 to June 1, 2013, at the American Philosophical Society very near the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. This free event originated by and was made possible through the generosity of Frank Fox operating through the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. The McNeil Center, the Library Company of Philadelphia and the future Museum of the American Revolution hosted receptions as part of the conference. Continue reading “The American Revolution Reborn:New Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century” →

American Revolution Reborn: Part II

July 15, 2013
by Peter Feinman

Editor’s note: This is the second post on the American Revolution Reborn Conference. Part I on the conference organization was posted here. You can read the complete series here.

The American Revolution Reborn conference raised significant issues which require further investigation, analysis, and comment. Continue reading “American Revolution Reborn: Part II” →

American Revolution Reborn: Missing New York

July 10, 2013
by Peter Feinman

Editor’s note: This is the third post on the American Revolution Reborn Conference. You can read the complete series here.

The conference also was important for the themes it didn’t include as was brought out in some of the questions and comments.

An area of significant omission was one with particular significance for New York State:  military history. One attendee from Boston sitting in the front row just in front of me privately expressed his keen disappointment at its absence from conference. Continue reading “American Revolution Reborn: Missing New York” →