Page:Historic towns of the middle states (IA historictownsofm02powe).pdf/133

 by the freeholders was summoned to convene in New York, to frame laws for the province. By the governor's proclamation Schenectady had been accorded a representative, and thus its importance in the body politic was recognized. The village was the frontier bulwark of civilization, where the white man and the Mohawk Indian, by keeping faith with each other, kept bright the chain of friendship which made the Five Nations the allies of the Province of New York. To guard against French and Indian incursions, a stockade had been built around the village. This was a high fence made of three rows of posts set together firmly in the ground. There was a gate upon the north and south sides, and a fort within the stockade at each gate. Although often alarmed, it was not until the war between England and her allies and France, which was soon declared after James II. abdicated the crown of England in the revolution of 1688 and William and Mary came to the throne, that this frontier village was seriously threatened. Jacob Leisler, a Dutch trader and captain of a military company, of great zeal but of small ability, seized the government in the name of William and Mary and brought confusion among the peo