New York State History

Your students will learn about New York’s early years as a Dutch and then a British colony. They will be fascinated by its pivotal role in both the American and Industrial Revolutions. They will meet many of the state’s famous sons and daughters, who helped make New York the Empire State. Fascinating primary source materials include George Washington’s evacuation order, a poster offering $10,000 reward for “Boss” Tweed, and a full-color, classroom poster of Uncle Sam painted by New Yorker James Flagg during WW I. This portfolio contains ready-to-use, hands-on primary source documents, most in their original sizes, and reproducible broadsheet essays, which provide historical background for understanding the documents. This portfolio includes a Study Guide with reproducible student activities. A New York State history timeline covers events from prehistory to 1952. A List of Governors from 1777 to present is included for easy, hands-on referencing, and a recommended reading list helps students to continue their study into this fascinating state. 5 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays: * Native Americans and Explorers * New York as a Colony * New York Becomes a State * New York in the 1800s * New York’s First 50 Years in the 20th Century 17 Primary Source Documents: * The first known map of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, 1651 * Pieter Schagen’s letter reporting the purchase of Manhattan by Pieter Minuit, 1626 * Poster encouraging Englishmen to settle in the Province of New York in America, 1738 * Front page of the New York Weekly Journal, November 25th, 1734 * Order by General George Washington to evacuate the City of New York, August 17, 1776 * Plans and drawing of “Fortress West Point,” 1780 and 1791 * Enlistment papers for the Detachment of Sea Fencibles, 1814 * New York Consolidated Lottery poster, 1826 * Poster advertising land for sale in southwestern New York, 1837 * Handbill advertising Schenectady rail and canal connections, 1834 * Posters depicting life on the Erie Canal * Poster offering $10,000 Reward for William M. (Boss) Tweed, 1875 * Page from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, January 20, 1866, showing immigrants arriving at Castle Garden * Manuscript of “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, 1883 * World War I Poster: Uncle Sam by James Montgomery Flagg * Photographic Album, Building the Empire State Building, 1930-1931 * Strip of ticker tape from New York Stock Exchange