In 1656 the directors of the American Company chose Pieter van Rosenvelt to be the eighth governor-general of New Holland following the death of his predecessor, Claes van Coeverden. Following in van Coeverden’s footsteps would be no easy task for van Rosenvelt as van Coeverden had been not only the longest serving governor-general appointed by the American Company but he had also been the longest serving government official in the colony, having previously served under the three colonial governors that had presided to rule before him, Jacobus van Eps, Willem van der Reiger, and Salomon Tasman. More importantly, van Coeverden had been extremely well liked in the colony for his strict Calvinist beliefs, easily winning over the many faithful settlers that lived within the vicinity of New Amsterdam. Ultimately, it had been this connection to the devout that enabled van Coeverden to pursue a policy of controlled expansion of the New Hollandish settlements, as his personal relationship with many of the settlers enabled him to exert his influence over them and ensure that new townships would only be founded with his consent so as to minimalize conflicts with the Native Americans. As a result, Claes had been able to play a role in the founding of several settlements that began to rise to prominence under his rule. Among them, Wilhelmina [1], Coeverden [2], Tasmania [3], Stellenbosch [4], and Franschhoek [5] were the most notable. Additionally, it was under the rule of van Coeverden that tobacco cultivation spread to New Holland, although this was limited primarily to the southern reaches of the colony.
Admittedly, van Rosenvelt did feel somewhat uneasy about the task of following the man that had governed New Holland for sixteen years. Nevertheless, Pieter was determined to follow through with the honor that had been given to him by the company. However, van Rosenvelt realized that following the expansion that had occurred under his predecessor, the colony was too spread out as it was to be effectively governed from New Amsterdam. As a result, he took it upon himself to divide the colony up into different administrative provinces that would be under the management of deputy governors chosen directly by him. The first portion to be separated off was the administrative province of New Zeeland [6], the only part of New Holland where the cultivation of tobacco was permitted. Thereafter, van Rosenvelt established the administrative province of Orania [7] based around the Orange River and the growing township of Oranjestad. Finally, van Rosenvelt split the remaining portion of New Holland into New Holland proper [8] and Sylvania [9] based around Fort Nassau [10].
Following the division of New Holland, each of the three deputy generals began ruling as a proxy for van Rosenvelt in their assigned administrative provinces. Ultimately, this process enabled each of the provinces to establish their own colonial militias in order to better defend the far-flung settlements that had previously relied on New Amsterdam for their defense. Now, van Rosenvelt was better able to concentrate on improving New Amsterdam’s fortifications, thereby responding to the growing English threat as English settlers poured into the Queensland and New English settlements. Within the first year of his rule, Pieter had had Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan expanded with new guns imported directly from the furnaces of Europe. Additionally, he had a shipyard and small naval academy established on Wilhelmus Island so that the colony wouldn’t have to rely solely on the American Company’s ships for protection from the possibility of pirates or other enemy vessels.
With the completion of the shipyard in 1659, van Rosenvelt ordered the immediate construction of three new ships for the defense of New Amsterdam. Ever the strategist, Pieter also began drawing up ideas for new forts with improved fortifications to be stationed on the smaller islands that guarded the entrance to the waters immediately surrounding Manhattan. However, after he ordered their construction, he soon found himself needing to raise funds in order to pay for the colonial defenses. As a result, he decided to pass a small tax on buildings with white exteriors in New Amsterdam. However, the settlers in an act of self-defiance took it upon themselves to paint their houses and almost overnight New Amsterdam became the most colorful city in North America. Seeing this as a slight challenge against his rule, van Rosenvelt passed a series of ordinances requiring New Amsterdamers to either pay for the construction of the new fortifications or to serve in the colonial milita or navy. As a result, the settlers began to develop a heavy resentment against their governor.
Over time, the rift between the New Hollandish and van Rosenvelt began to grow larger and larger. Consequently, van Rosenvelt decided that the best way to remain in power was to create his own allies. Therefore, as the governor of New Holland, van Rosenvelt began dolling out huge tracts of land to his supporters and to settlers willing to relocate from the Netherlands. For their support, van Rosenvelt’s new allies were granted these patroonships and with them the rights allotted to the patroons as the landed colonial nobility of New Holland. While many of the new supporters claimed their land in New Zeeland to take advantage of the administrative province’s right to cultivate tobacco, van Rosenvelt was able to settle many of the new patroons in New Holland proper by gifting those patroonships double or even triple the amount of land as given to the patroonships of New Zeeland. Additionally, for patroons that paid for the transportation of additional families as their indentured servants, van Rosenvelt ennobled them as jonkheers of New Holland, thereby granting them the additional privileges within the colony.
However, while the Rosenvelt Gifts did gain him new allies, it further alienated him from the stalwartly pious settlers that had chosen New Holland as their new Jerusalem. Led by Salomon Abrams, the grandson of Cornelius Abrams and considered the patriarch of the faithful, the settlers staged a vigil outside of the governor’s mansion wherein they sang hymnals all night long in April of 1662. Not too keen on being challenged so openly, van Rosenvelt ordered the militia to surround the gathering and form their ranks. While cooler heads did prevail and the assembly dispersed peacefully, van Rosenvelt and the settlers had forever soured their opinions of one another. Nevertheless, Abrams would have the last laugh when Pieter’s eldest son, Adriaen, became one of the stalwarts after falling in love with Abrams’ daughter, Amelia, and marrying her in Abrams’ church. This betrayal by his own son proved to be too much for van Rosenvelt, who promptly disowned his eldest son upon finding out about the elopement.
[1] Wilmington, DE
[2] Baltimore, Maryland
[3] Annapolis, Maryland
[4] New Haven, Connecticut
[5] Hartford, Connecticut
[6] Combined Maryland and Delaware
[7] Southern half of New Jersey and Pennsylvania
[8] Northern half of New Jersey, Southern New York, and Connecticut west of Connecticut River
[9] Northern half of New York
[10] Albany, New York