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SCHENECTADY

THE PROVINCIAL OUTPOST OF LIBERTY

JUDSON S. LANDON

Schenectady was settled in 1662. To give to the story of the settlement its proper character among the beginnings of free institutions in America it is necessary to recall the fact that the States-General of the Netherlands in 1621 chartered a trading concern, the Dutch West India Company, granted it the monopoly of the fur trade in New Netherland, and permitted it to govern, so long as it could, whatever colonies might inhabit the territory. The company thus formed ruled over the territory from 1624 to 1664, when the English, trumping up a stale claim of prior discovery, interfered and took possession.

The company's rule was arbitrary, but not without good features. Traders are not apt