The Quakers, the Dutch, and the Ladies: Crash Course US History #4

Hi, I'm John Green, this is Crash Course US History, and today we're going to cram 150 years of American history into one video.

Why? Well, many American history classes don't cover the colonial period at all, because most major American history tests have, like, one question about it.

Mr. Green, Mr. Green, so this isn't going to be on the test?

That's awesome because I have some flirtatious notes to exchange with Jessica Alvarez.

Yeah, me from the past.

So listen, would you rather do well on one test or lead a richer, more productive life as a result of having a better understanding of the complicated factors that led to the creation of the greatest nation in history?

Stan, can I get a Libertage? [Patriotic Rock Music]

So listen up me from the past!

It's time to bask in our own greatness, and by greatness I mean morally dubious dominance over people who would have been just fine without us.

[Theme Music]

So, contrary to popular mythology Colonial America was more than just Jamestown and Massachusetts.

There was, for instance, New Amsterdam.

The tale goes, the Dutch traders bought the island of Manhattan from Lenape Indians for $24 in 1624 – that isn't quite true, but it contains a truth.

The Dutch traders who founded their colony were businessmen and New Amsterdam was, above everything else, a commercial venture.

This is still true in New York, actually.

I mean, Manhattan is all about Wall Street.

In fact, Crash Course writer and history teacher Raoul Meyer is believed to be the last person living on the island of Manhattan who does not work for an investment bank.

So the Dutch let anyone into New Amsterdam who could help them turn a profit, including Jews and even Quakers.

But they didn't like Indians very much, in fact they drove them out of the colony.

But anyway the $24 the Lenapes supposedly got for New England was $24 more than the Dutch got when the English took over the colony in 1664, by sailing four frigates into the harbor and asking for the colony in a threatening voice.

So New Amsterdam became New York which was a mixed blessing.

The population doubled in the decade after the English takeover, but English rule meant less economic freedom for women who, under the Dutch were able to inherit property and conduct business for themselves.

And under the English, free black people lost a lot of the jobs they had been able to hold under the Dutch.

Things were better in Pennsylvania.

So much so that it was known as the "best poor man's country," which admittedly in the 17th century was a low bar to jump over.

Given by Charles II to this guy William Penn in 1681, Pennsylvania was a huge tract of land round about here.