Transition from Dutch to English Rule 703 servil Officers appointed by the people."' This charter remained in force, without substantial change, until the American Revolution, Montgomery's charter of 1730 making but slight alterations in the city government. By the year 1686, therefore, the process of formally Anglicizing the municipal government was completed. The English municipal corporation of the seventeenth century, having some elective and some appointive officers, was made the model for the new-world city ; and twenty-two years after the English conquest of New Netherland, New York City became, in outward political appear- ance at least, an English corporation. There still remained the Dutch blood, the Dutch customs, traditions and speech ; but from the point of view of formal political organization, New York was now an English city. Before the English conquest, political conditions on Long Island had been varied. There were three distinct groups of settlements, each developing political habits different from the others. The greater part of the island, extending from Oyster Bay eastward, had, since the treaty of 1650 between the English and the Dutch, been under the control of New Haven or Connecticut ; and some of the towns had sent deputies to the General Court at Hartford. The laws and customs of New Haven or Connecticut were established in these towns, and politically, as well as geographically, they formed a part of New England. To the westward of Oyster Bay, and stretching in an irregular strip across the island, were the five English towns under the Dutch jurisdiction. These English settlements had been granted lands and charters of incorporation by Dutch di- rectors, which gave them greater privileges than those enjoyed by the Dutch under the New Netherland government ;- but did not leave them so free in local matters as were the Connecticut towns. In the tumultuous years, 1 663-1 664, these towns had thrown off the au- thority of the Dutch, and had elected for themselves a President, one John Scott ; and claimed to be independent both of New Nether- land and of New England.^ Finally, in the extreme western part of the island were the five Dutch settlements, "* whose governments were modelled closely after the town-corporation system of Holland. But a 'i&XN weeks after the conquest, Nicholls, in the letter already quoted, had promised the English inhabitants of Long liV. y. Co!. Doc, III. 425. "Stuyvesant says, "The Englishmen enjoy more privileges than the Exemptions of New Netherland grant to any Hollander." .': 1'. Col. Doc, XIV. 233. ^N. V. Co/. Doc, XIV. 542, 544, 547-54S, 551-552.
- The five English towns were Newtown, Hempstead, Flushing, Gravesend and
Jamaica ; the five Dutch towns were Breucklen, Midwout, Amersfoort, New Utrecht and Bushwick.
