The Document Based Question/essay prompt The New Netherland Legal System and the Law of Twenty-First Century New York was prepared in 2009 and the resources have not been updated since that time. For more information about recent legal developments, consult national and state newspapers, legal databases, and your librarian.
2009 marked the 400th anniversary of the Dutch discovery of New Netherland. The colony lasted for only half a century, but during those fifty years, the early settlers set up a vibrant community governed by Dutch law. New Netherland (now New York) and New Amsterdam (now New York City) were ruled by the Dutch West India Company, an armed commercial monopoly that operated under a charter from the Dutch government. Throughout the colony’s existence, its inhabitants sought to introduce the kind of representative government and legal system they had known in the Dutch homeland and, by 1653, they had largely succeeded.
This activity meets the following guidelines of New York State’s Common Core Social Studies Framework (2017):
Below is a list of the 2009 resources.
A Legal History of New Netherland
A History of the Development of City Government in New York State
The Importance of Flushing
Religion in New Netherland, 1623-1664
Memorial History of the City of New York
African Americans and Colonial Legislation in the Middle Colonies
History of New York State, 1523-1927
Before the English
History of the City of New York
History of New Netherland
The Dutch in New Netherland and the United States, 1609-1909
The Shame and the Sorrow
From Father’s Property to Children’s Rights: The History of Child Custody in the United States
The Empire State: A Compendious History of the Commonwealth of New York
New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth Century America
In the Shadow of Slavery
The Constitutional History of New York
History of the United States of America
Origin and History of Manors in the Province of New York and in the County of Westchester
Historical Sketch of the Judicial Tribunals of New York
History of Court of Common Pleas in the City and County of New York
Courts and Lawyers of New York: A History, 1609-1925
A History of the United States
History of the State of New York
American Negro Slavery
A History of the United States and Its People from Their Earliest Records
Image Citation: The New York Public Library, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection.