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SCHENECTADY
THE PROVINCIAL OUTPOST OF LIBERTY
By 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
