Editing Lower Manhattan (section)

===17th and 18th centuries===
{{Main|History of New York City (1665–1783)}}
[[File:New York Harbor Waterfront 1727 panorama map.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|[[New York Harbor]], 1727]]
In 1664, the English [[Second Anglo-Dutch War|conquered the area]] and [[geographical renaming|renamed]] it "[[Province of New York|New York]]" after the [[James II of England|Duke of York]] and the city of [[York]] in Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[English Historical Review]] |volume=22 |issue=88 |pages=674–693 |jstor=550138 |title=The Capture of New Amsterdam |last1=Schoolcraft |first1=Henry L. |year=1907 |doi=10.1093/ehr/XXII.LXXXVIII.674 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1431702 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of 400 Years of New York City's History |last=Homberger |first=Eric |year=2005 |page=34 |publisher=[[Owl Books]] |isbn=0-8050-7842-8 }}</ref>

At that time, people of African descent made up 20% of the population of the city, with European settlers numbering approximately 1,500,<ref name="HarrisSlavery2003">{{cite book |title=In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626–1863 |last=Harris |first=Leslie M. |year=2003 |publisher=[[The University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0226317731 }}</ref>{{rp|14}} and people of African descent numbering 375 (with 300 of that 375 enslaved and 75 free).<ref name="HarrisSlavery2003" />{{rp|22}} While it has been claimed that African slaves comprised 40% of the small population of the city at that time,<ref name="Spencer">[http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/afrburial/ Spencer P.M. Harrington, "Bones and Bureaucrats"], ''Archeology'', March/April 1993, accessed February 11, 2012.</ref> this claim has not been substantiated. During the mid-1600s, farms of free blacks covered {{convert|130|acres}} where [[Washington Square Park]] later developed.<ref name="Rothstein">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/arts/design/26burial.html |title=A Burial Ground and Its Dead Are Given Life |access-date=March 1, 2010 |work=[[The New York Times]] |first=Edward |last=Rothstein |date=February 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302214226/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/arts/design/26burial.html |archive-date=March 2, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Dutch [[Third Anglo-Dutch War|briefly regained the city in 1673]], renaming the city "[[New Orange]]", before permanently ceding the colony of [[New Netherland]] to the English for what is now [[Suriname]] in November 1674.

The new English rulers of the formerly Dutch New Amsterdam and New Netherland renamed the settlement back to New York. As the colony grew and prospered, sentiment also grew for greater autonomy. In the context of the [[Glorious Revolution]] in England, [[Jacob Leisler]] led [[Leisler's Rebellion]] and effectively controlled the city and surrounding areas from 1689 to 1691, before being arrested and executed.

By 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200.<ref name="gothamcenter.org">[http://www.gothamcenter.org/features/timeline/ "Gotham Center for New York City History"] {{webarchive |url=https://swap.stanford.edu/20081229214923/http://www.gothamcenter.org/features/timeline/ |date=December 29, 2008 }} Timeline 1700–1800.</ref> By 1703, 42% of households in New York had slaves, a higher percentage than in [[Philadelphia]] or [[Boston]].<ref name="hh_slavery">{{cite web |title=The Hidden History of Slavery in New York |url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051107/slavery_in_new_york |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060530212901/http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051107/slavery_in_new_york |archive-date=May 30, 2006 |access-date=February 11, 2008 |work=[[The Nation]] }}</ref>

The 1735 [[libel]] trial of [[John Peter Zenger]] in the city was a seminal influence on [[freedom of the press]] in North America. It would be a standard for the basic articles of freedom in the [[United States Declaration of Independence]].

By the 1740s, with expansion of settlers, 20% of the population of New York were slaves, totaling about 2,500 people.<ref name="Rothstein"/> After a series of fires in 1741, the city became panicked that blacks [[New York Conspiracy of 1741|planned to burn the city]] in a conspiracy with some poor whites. Historians believe their alarm was mostly fabrication and fear, but officials rounded up 31 blacks and 4 whites, all of whom were convicted of arson and executed. City officials executed 13 blacks by burning them alive and hanged 4 whites and 18 blacks.<ref>{{cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel Eliot |author-link=Samuel Eliot Morison |title=The Oxford History of the American People |publisher=Mentor Books |year=1972 |location=New York City |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoft02samu/page/207 207] |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoft02samu |url-access=registration |isbn=0-451-62600-1 }}</ref>

In 1754, [[Columbia University]] was founded under [[charter]] by [[George II of Great Britain]] as King's College in Lower Manhattan.<ref>{{cite book |title=An Historical Sketch of Columbia College, in the City of New York, 1754–1876 |last=Moore |first=Nathaniel Fish |year=1876 |page=8 |publisher=[[Columbia College, Columbia University|Columbia College]] }}</ref>

The [[Stamp Act]] and other British measures fomented dissent, particularly among the [[Sons of Liberty]], who maintained a long-running skirmish with locally stationed British troops over [[Liberty Pole]]s from 1766 to 1776. The [[Stamp Act Congress]] met in New York City in 1765 in the first organized resistance to British authority across the colonies. After the major defeat of the [[Continental Army]] in the [[Battle of Long Island]], General [[George Washington]] withdrew to [[Manhattan Island]], but with the subsequent defeat at the [[Battle of Fort Washington]] the island was effectively left to the British. The city became a haven for [[loyalist (American Revolution)|loyalist]] refugees, becoming a British stronghold for the entire war. Consequently, the area also became the focal point for Washington's [[intelligence in the American Revolutionary War|espionage and intelligence-gathering]] throughout the war.

In 1771, [[Bear Market (Manhattan)|Bear Market]] was established along the Hudson River shoreline on land donated by [[Trinity Church (Manhattan)|Trinity Church]], and replaced by [[Washington Market]] in 1813.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Public Market for Lower Manhattan |url=http://www.nyccouncil.info/pdf_files/reports/publicmarket.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070126000539/http://www.nyccouncil.info/pdf_files/reports/publicmarket.pdf |archive-date=January 26, 2007 |publisher=[[New York City Council]] }}</ref>

New York City was greatly damaged twice by [[Great Fire of New York (1776)|fires]] of suspicious origin during British military rule. The city became the political and military center of operations for the British in North America for the remainder of the war and a haven for Loyalist refugees. [[Continental Army]] officer [[Nathan Hale]] was hanged in Manhattan for espionage. In addition, the British began to hold the majority of captured American [[prisoners of war]] aboard [[Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument|prison ships]] in [[Wallabout Bay]], across the [[East River]] in [[Brooklyn]]. More Americans died from neglect aboard these ships than died in all the battles of the war. British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783. George Washington triumphantly returned to the city that day, as [[Evacuation Day (New York)|the last British forces left the city]].

Starting in 1785, the [[Congress of the Confederation|Congress]] met in New York City under the [[Articles of Confederation]]. In 1789, New York City became the first [[list of capitals in the United States#United States|national capital of the United States]] under the new [[United States Constitution]]. The Constitution also created the current [[Congress of the United States]], and its first sitting was at [[Federal Hall]] on Wall Street. The first [[United States Supreme Court]] sat there. The [[United States Bill of Rights]] was drafted and ratified there. George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall.<ref>{{cite web |title=The People's Vote: President George Washington's First Inaugural Speech (1789) |publisher=[[U.S. News & World Report]] |url=https://www.usnews.com/usnews/documents/docpages/document_page11.htm |access-date=May 28, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925045133/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/documents/docpages/document_page11.htm |archive-date=September 25, 2008 }}</ref> New York City remained the capital of the U.S. until 1790, when the role was transferred to Philadelphia.