WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.500 Welcome to the deep dive. You know, if you stood 00:00:02.500 --> 00:00:05.259 in New York Harbor in the year 1524, you wouldn't 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:09.460 be looking at this empty, silent wilderness just 00:00:09.460 --> 00:00:11.500 waiting to be discovered. Right. Not at all. 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:13.839 Yeah. According to the explorer Giovanni de Verrazano, 00:00:13.980 --> 00:00:16.019 you'd be looking at a vast sheet of water that 00:00:16.019 --> 00:00:19.000 was absolutely swarming with a highly organized 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.539 fleet of native boats. I mean, New York didn't 00:00:21.539 --> 00:00:24.199 start with skyscrapers. It started as an ancient, 00:00:24.440 --> 00:00:27.070 thriving empire. That is just such a crucial 00:00:27.070 --> 00:00:29.730 image to hold in your mind. We often assume the 00:00:29.730 --> 00:00:33.990 story of a major state begins with a clean slate. 00:00:34.189 --> 00:00:37.329 You know, like the very first brick led by a 00:00:37.329 --> 00:00:39.350 European settler. Like history just magically 00:00:39.350 --> 00:00:42.189 starts right there. Exactly. But to truly understand 00:00:42.189 --> 00:00:44.590 New York, you have to realize that those towering 00:00:44.590 --> 00:00:47.229 modern skylines, they're just the newest layer 00:00:47.229 --> 00:00:50.070 on top of retreating glaciers, deep natural harbors 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:52.909 and, well, incredibly sophisticated indigenous 00:00:52.909 --> 00:00:54.990 trade routes. Which brings us to our mission 00:00:54.990 --> 00:00:57.729 for this deep dive. Today, we are pulling from 00:00:57.729 --> 00:01:00.549 a really comprehensive historical text, specifically 00:01:00.549 --> 00:01:02.789 the Wikipedia article detailing the history of 00:01:02.789 --> 00:01:05.450 New York state. And we are covering an immense 00:01:05.450 --> 00:01:08.409 timeline here. Oh, yeah, massive. We're stretching 00:01:08.409 --> 00:01:12.390 all the way from 10 ,000 BC right up to the 21st 00:01:12.390 --> 00:01:15.969 century. We want to uncover the why behind New 00:01:15.969 --> 00:01:18.549 York's enduring dominance. You know, how did 00:01:18.549 --> 00:01:21.870 its specific geography and the relentless churn 00:01:21.870 --> 00:01:24.930 of its people transform it from an ancient indigenous 00:01:24.930 --> 00:01:28.790 hub into a global epicenter of commerce and culture? 00:01:29.350 --> 00:01:31.530 Okay, let's unpack this. Where do we actually 00:01:31.530 --> 00:01:34.390 begin if we aren't starting with the Dutch? Well, 00:01:34.510 --> 00:01:37.010 we begin long before the concrete. Around 10 00:01:37.010 --> 00:01:39.930 ,000 BC, the first peoples arrived in the region 00:01:39.930 --> 00:01:42.189 following the retreat of the Ice Age glaciers. 00:01:42.469 --> 00:01:45.049 And if we just jump forward to around 1100 AD, 00:01:45.629 --> 00:01:48.170 two distinct native cultures had really established 00:01:48.170 --> 00:01:50.849 dominance, which were the Algonquian and the 00:01:50.849 --> 00:01:52.930 Iroquoian peoples. See, I always pictured early 00:01:52.930 --> 00:01:56.250 native settlements as like small scattered bands 00:01:56.250 --> 00:01:59.310 of foragers just kind of surviving. Sure. That's 00:01:59.310 --> 00:02:01.150 the common misconception. Right. But the source 00:02:01.150 --> 00:02:02.870 text paints a totally different picture. It sounds 00:02:02.870 --> 00:02:05.250 like they had a highly complex established economy. 00:02:05.549 --> 00:02:08.189 Absolutely did. I mean, this wasn't just basic 00:02:08.189 --> 00:02:11.110 survival. It was agricultural engineering. By 00:02:11.110 --> 00:02:13.349 the time European explorers actually arrived, 00:02:13.810 --> 00:02:16.569 the Mohawk people, for example, were cultivating 00:02:16.569 --> 00:02:20.169 these sprawling maize fields in the fertile lowlands 00:02:20.169 --> 00:02:23.270 of the Mohawk River. Wow. Yeah. And out west, 00:02:23.689 --> 00:02:26.330 the Iroquois managed extensive orchards in well 00:02:26.330 --> 00:02:28.849 -cultivated lands. They were actively reshaping 00:02:28.849 --> 00:02:30.849 the environment to support large populations. 00:02:31.030 --> 00:02:33.490 And politically, they were just as advanced. 00:02:33.789 --> 00:02:36.710 I look at the five nations of the Iroquois League 00:02:36.710 --> 00:02:39.389 that formed by the 15th century and it almost 00:02:39.389 --> 00:02:42.860 sounds like an early version of the European 00:02:42.860 --> 00:02:44.939 Union. Oh, that's a really interesting way to 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:46.979 put it. Yeah, because they were this highly organized 00:02:46.979 --> 00:02:49.939 network, you know, coordinating diplomacy, war, 00:02:50.060 --> 00:02:53.120 and trade across this immense region, stretching 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:55.060 from New York all the way to the Great Lakes. 00:02:55.219 --> 00:02:57.960 What's fascinating here is how that pre -existing 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:00.620 network dictated the terms of early colonialism. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:03.419 Early colonial New York was not a blank canvas 00:03:03.419 --> 00:03:06.560 at all. It was a highly complex, three -way power 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:08.900 dynamic. It was the fur trade, right? Exactly. 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:12.259 The Iroquois League controlled that massive territory, 00:03:12.460 --> 00:03:15.340 which meant they essentially monopolized the 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:18.500 incredibly lucrative fur trade. So when the Europeans 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:21.680 arrived, they didn't build a trade hub from scratch. 00:03:22.139 --> 00:03:23.939 They basically just plugged into a system that 00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:27.199 was already humming. Precisely. I mean, the Iroquois 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:30.039 actively bargained with the Dutch, who had set 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:32.219 up Fort Nassau in New Amsterdam in the early 00:03:32.219 --> 00:03:35.180 1600s, and later they bargained with the British. 00:03:35.219 --> 00:03:36.560 They were playing them against each other. Oh, 00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:39.139 absolutely. The Native Americans had incredible 00:03:39.139 --> 00:03:41.939 leverage because they controlled the inland waterways. 00:03:42.460 --> 00:03:44.639 If you wanted beaver pelts, which were basically 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:47.000 the currency of the era, you had to deal with 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:48.960 them. Man, it always comes back to geography. 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:52.199 Those deep natural harbors on the coast and the 00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:54.340 river systems reaching deep into the interior. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:57.219 That's what made New York the ultimate geographic 00:03:57.219 --> 00:03:59.580 prize. It really did. It doesn't be a prize that 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:01.919 inevitably turned you into a battleground. Always. 00:04:02.580 --> 00:04:04.620 You mentioned the Dutch setting up New Netherland. 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:08.699 Well, by 1664, the British sail in to take it 00:04:08.699 --> 00:04:11.280 over and they rename it New York after the Duke 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:13.280 of York. And they conquered it pretty easily, 00:04:13.419 --> 00:04:15.560 right? Like it wasn't a massive war. Well, conquer 00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:18.110 might be a strong word. The Dutch essentially 00:04:18.110 --> 00:04:20.649 surrendered without a single shot fired. Wait, 00:04:20.709 --> 00:04:24.250 really? No shots? Not one! Their internal politics 00:04:24.250 --> 00:04:27.050 were already fracturing, and they simply didn't 00:04:27.050 --> 00:04:29.589 have the military backing to hold off an entire 00:04:29.589 --> 00:04:32.790 British fleet. So they just handed it over. Wow. 00:04:33.069 --> 00:04:36.029 So under the British, the economy just explodes. 00:04:36.730 --> 00:04:39.230 I read about these enormous estates along the 00:04:39.230 --> 00:04:42.269 Hudson River, like these massive manors owned 00:04:42.269 --> 00:04:44.790 by families like the Livingstons and Cortlands. 00:04:45.110 --> 00:04:48.449 Yes, the Patroonships. Right. Plus you have thousands 00:04:48.449 --> 00:04:50.470 of German immigrants moving upstate to farm. 00:04:50.730 --> 00:04:53.269 Yeah, the Palatine Germans. What's happening 00:04:53.269 --> 00:04:56.889 here is the creation of a true agricultural powerhouse. 00:04:57.079 --> 00:04:59.480 Those Hudson Valley farms and the agriculture 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:02.100 out on Long Island, they essentially turned New 00:05:02.100 --> 00:05:04.620 York into a sprawling bread basket and lumber 00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:06.600 yard. But where was all that food going? Was 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:09.100 it going back to England? Actually, no. A huge 00:05:09.100 --> 00:05:11.860 portion of it was feeding and supplying the British 00:05:11.860 --> 00:05:14.180 sugar colonies down in the Caribbean. Oh, interesting. 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:16.899 Yeah. The Caribbean islands were so focused on 00:05:16.899 --> 00:05:19.839 growing high value cash crops like sugar that 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:22.620 they relied on places like New York. for their 00:05:22.620 --> 00:05:25.180 basic food and timber. It was a massive trade 00:05:25.180 --> 00:05:27.740 network. But all that agricultural wealth and 00:05:27.740 --> 00:05:30.779 strategic location, I mean, that put a huge target 00:05:30.779 --> 00:05:33.259 on New York's back when the American colonies 00:05:33.259 --> 00:05:35.560 finally decided to break away. Oh, a massive 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.540 target. During the American Revolution, New York 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:41.759 was the linchpin. The British knew it. They parked 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:45.639 an armada off Staten Island in 1776. That must 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:47.800 have just darkened the entire harbor. It was 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:49.860 the largest fleet of the century. We're talking 00:05:49.860 --> 00:05:53.040 30 ,000 sailors and soldiers. That is terrifying. 00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:55.819 It was. They drove General George Washington 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:58.139 completely out of the New York City area and 00:05:58.139 --> 00:06:00.459 held the city as their North American base of 00:06:00.459 --> 00:06:02.839 operations for the rest of the entire war. Which 00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:05.720 brings up a strategic question. The British plan 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:08.300 was to use New York to crush the rebellion by 00:06:08.300 --> 00:06:11.120 cutting the colonies in half. If American General 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:13.779 Horatio Gates hadn't won the Battle of Saratoga 00:06:13.779 --> 00:06:17.220 in upstate New York in 1777, wouldn't the British 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:19.439 have controlled that entire Hudson Champlain 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:22.579 corridor and literally chopped the colonies in 00:06:22.579 --> 00:06:25.160 half? If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:06:25.699 --> 00:06:28.920 surviving that exact existential threat at Saratoga 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:32.079 is what turned the tide of the entire Revolutionary 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:34.540 War. Because it kept them connected. Yes. If 00:06:34.540 --> 00:06:37.060 the British had held that river corridor, they 00:06:37.060 --> 00:06:39.500 would have physically isolated rebellious New 00:06:39.500 --> 00:06:41.519 England from the rest of the colonies, basically 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:44.660 starving the Revolution. Waning at Saratoga proved 00:06:44.660 --> 00:06:46.600 to the world that the Americans could actually 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:49.360 fight a conventional war. Which officially convinced 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.600 France. to ally with them. Exactly. That French 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:55.519 support was crucial. And internally, surviving 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:57.579 that threat gave New York the breathing room 00:06:57.579 --> 00:07:01.180 to draft its own state constitution in 1777, 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:04.199 right? A document that ended up heavily influencing 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:06.860 the actual United States Constitution a decade 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:10.079 later. Yes, New York's legal framework was incredibly 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:12.839 influential. And because New York was so pivotal, 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:14.920 New York City actually served as the national 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:18.339 capital on and off between 1785 and 1790. Oh, 00:07:18.339 --> 00:07:20.839 right. It wasn't always DC. Far from it. New 00:07:20.839 --> 00:07:22.860 York is where George Washington was inaugurated, 00:07:22.860 --> 00:07:24.720 and it's where the Bill of Rights was drafted. 00:07:25.060 --> 00:07:28.319 OK, so surviving the war and securing the territory, 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:30.939 that was step one. But now they have this massive 00:07:30.939 --> 00:07:33.949 geographic problem. Right. They have this wealthy 00:07:33.949 --> 00:07:37.750 port on the ocean and a resource -rich interior, 00:07:38.329 --> 00:07:40.810 but there is a giant mountain range right in 00:07:40.810 --> 00:07:43.449 between them. How do they bridge that? This sparks 00:07:43.449 --> 00:07:45.709 the transportation revolution of the 19th century. 00:07:46.230 --> 00:07:49.709 In 1807, you have Robert Fulton launching the 00:07:49.709 --> 00:07:52.290 first successful steamboat line from New York 00:07:52.290 --> 00:07:55.829 City up to Albany. Which is huge. It is. But 00:07:55.829 --> 00:07:58.810 the real game changer, the engineering marvel 00:07:58.810 --> 00:08:01.629 that alters global economics forever, happens 00:08:01.629 --> 00:08:04.870 in 1825. The Erie Canal. Here's where it gets 00:08:04.870 --> 00:08:06.870 really interesting. I feel like you can almost 00:08:06.870 --> 00:08:09.689 compare the opening of the Erie Canal to the 00:08:09.689 --> 00:08:12.209 invention of the internet. Oh, I like that. How 00:08:12.209 --> 00:08:14.069 do you see the connection there? Well, think 00:08:14.069 --> 00:08:16.949 about it. Before the internet, sharing information 00:08:16.949 --> 00:08:19.970 globally was slow and expensive. You were limited 00:08:19.970 --> 00:08:22.709 by physical mail or, like, really expensive phone 00:08:22.709 --> 00:08:25.149 lines. Here. Before the canal, if you wanted 00:08:25.149 --> 00:08:28.009 to move heavy goods from the interior of America 00:08:28.009 --> 00:08:30.550 to the Atlantic Ocean, you had to haul it over 00:08:30.550 --> 00:08:34.129 the Appalachian Mountains on wagons. It was brutally 00:08:34.129 --> 00:08:36.850 hard and totally cost prohibitive. Yeah, it just 00:08:36.850 --> 00:08:39.590 didn't make economic sense. But suddenly, this 00:08:39.590 --> 00:08:42.970 man -made waterway connects the Great Lakes directly 00:08:42.970 --> 00:08:47.049 to the Hudson River. It's this instant sprawling 00:08:47.049 --> 00:08:49.970 network that completely changes who has access 00:08:49.970 --> 00:08:52.210 to the global market. That's a perfect analogy. 00:08:52.590 --> 00:08:54.590 The mechanism of the canal, you know, using a 00:08:54.590 --> 00:08:56.830 system of locks to raise and lower boats over 00:08:56.830 --> 00:08:59.049 the elevation changes, it dropped the cost of 00:08:59.049 --> 00:09:02.250 shipping goods by an estimated 95%. 95%. That 00:09:02.250 --> 00:09:05.029 is absurd. The economic impact was immediate. 00:09:05.529 --> 00:09:07.730 Towns along the route, like Buffalo and Rochester, 00:09:07.990 --> 00:09:10.149 they transformed into major boom towns almost 00:09:10.149 --> 00:09:13.389 overnight. Western New York went from being the 00:09:13.389 --> 00:09:16.190 rugged frontier to a heavily settled, incredibly 00:09:16.190 --> 00:09:18.889 prosperous region. And it established New York 00:09:18.889 --> 00:09:22.230 City as the unquestioned economic kingpin of 00:09:22.230 --> 00:09:24.870 the nation because all those agricultural products 00:09:24.870 --> 00:09:26.850 from the interior were flowing right through 00:09:26.850 --> 00:09:29.600 its port. They will. But that immense wealth 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:32.379 and connectivity, it created a deep cultural 00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:34.720 fracture within the state itself. Right, you 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:37.700 get this stark geographic split. Western New 00:09:37.700 --> 00:09:39.840 York, which is booming with all these New England 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:42.679 migrants traveling the canal, it becomes a hotbed 00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:45.419 for progressive causes. Yes, a totally different 00:09:45.419 --> 00:09:47.759 mindset from the city. Exactly. It becomes the 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:50.259 center for the abolitionist movement, early women's 00:09:50.259 --> 00:09:52.899 rights conventions, and a vital stop on the Underground 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:56.259 Railroad. While at the exact same time, downstate... 00:09:56.350 --> 00:09:59.049 specifically the mercantile elite in New York 00:09:59.049 --> 00:10:02.149 City, they were deeply financially tied to the 00:10:02.149 --> 00:10:05.350 Deep South. Half of New York City's exports before 00:10:05.350 --> 00:10:07.529 the Civil War were related to Southern cotton. 00:10:07.769 --> 00:10:10.529 Half. I mean, that is a staggering reliance. 00:10:10.850 --> 00:10:12.750 No wonder they were conflicted. I read that when 00:10:12.750 --> 00:10:14.929 the Civil War broke out, the mayor of New York 00:10:14.929 --> 00:10:17.149 City actually proposed that the city secedes 00:10:17.149 --> 00:10:19.929 from the union because a war would devastate 00:10:19.929 --> 00:10:22.259 their Southern business interests. It's true. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:25.159 He did propose that, though once the war formally 00:10:25.159 --> 00:10:28.100 began, the state largely rallied. New York ultimately 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:30.340 provided more soldiers and more funding to the 00:10:30.340 --> 00:10:32.779 Union cause than any other northern state. But 00:10:32.779 --> 00:10:35.759 those internal contradictions, they were still 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:38.480 boiling right under the surface, which led to 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:41.379 one of the darkest, most complex moments in the 00:10:41.379 --> 00:10:45.039 city's history, which is the 1863 draft riots. 00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:48.470 Walk me through how that actually unfolded. To 00:10:48.470 --> 00:10:50.269 understand the draft riots, you really have to 00:10:50.269 --> 00:10:52.529 look at the severe social and economic tensions 00:10:52.529 --> 00:10:55.070 of the era. The federal government instituted 00:10:55.070 --> 00:10:58.190 a military draft to replenish troops, but the 00:10:58.190 --> 00:11:01.330 law had this glaring loophole. If you could afford 00:11:01.330 --> 00:11:04.750 to pay a commutation fee of $300, you were entirely 00:11:04.750 --> 00:11:09.190 exempt from serving. $300 in 1863. That's not 00:11:09.190 --> 00:11:11.990 a loophole. That's a VIP pass for the rich. A 00:11:11.990 --> 00:11:13.929 working class laborer would have to work for 00:11:13.929 --> 00:11:16.909 a year to see that kind of money. Exactly. It 00:11:16.909 --> 00:11:19.470 caused intense, visceral resentment among the 00:11:19.470 --> 00:11:22.110 working class, which in New York City was heavily 00:11:22.110 --> 00:11:25.070 dominated by ethnic Irish immigrants. They felt 00:11:25.070 --> 00:11:27.669 they were being sent to slaughter while the wealthy 00:11:27.669 --> 00:11:30.269 just sat comfortably at home. racial tensions 00:11:30.269 --> 00:11:32.889 too, right? Yes. On top of the class issues, 00:11:33.230 --> 00:11:35.389 certain political leaders had been stoking racial 00:11:35.389 --> 00:11:37.990 fears, convincing these immigrants that freed 00:11:37.990 --> 00:11:40.690 southern slaves would migrate north and compete 00:11:40.690 --> 00:11:43.330 for their very same low wage jobs. So it was 00:11:43.330 --> 00:11:46.509 just a total powder keg of class warfare and 00:11:46.509 --> 00:11:49.970 racial anxiety. Yes. And when the draft lottery 00:11:49.970 --> 00:11:54.950 began in July of 1863, it ignited five days of 00:11:54.950 --> 00:11:58.970 sheer chaos. The rioters violently targeted black 00:11:58.970 --> 00:12:01.509 citizens, burned down their neighborhoods, and 00:12:01.509 --> 00:12:04.389 attacked known abolitionists. That is just awful. 00:12:04.570 --> 00:12:06.830 It was horrific. It actually required federal 00:12:06.830 --> 00:12:08.710 troops, some marching straight from the Battle 00:12:08.710 --> 00:12:10.769 of Gettysburg, to finally quell the violence. 00:12:10.970 --> 00:12:13.330 It's a tragic piece of history, but it perfectly 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:15.450 illustrates how the wealth generated by those 00:12:15.450 --> 00:12:17.370 commercial arteries wasn't shared equally at 00:12:17.370 --> 00:12:19.750 all. Not even close. But coming out of the Civil 00:12:19.750 --> 00:12:22.830 War, New York channels its capital and manpower 00:12:22.830 --> 00:12:25.480 into an industrial explosion. Yeah, the post 00:12:25.480 --> 00:12:28.299 -Civil War era saw New York completely dominate 00:12:28.299 --> 00:12:30.500 manufacturing. And this is where we see companies 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:32.960 like Eastman Kodak springing up in Rochester 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:36.580 and General Electric and Schenectady. Why did 00:12:36.580 --> 00:12:39.279 they build there specifically? They were leveraging 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.399 the infrastructure that was already in place. 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:44.299 The Erie Canal corridor provided ready access 00:12:44.299 --> 00:12:47.100 to shipping, and the rivers provided water power 00:12:47.100 --> 00:12:49.340 for early manufacturing. Ah, that makes sense. 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:52.299 Simultaneously, the state remained an agricultural 00:12:52.299 --> 00:12:55.309 titan. The Mohawk Valley became famous for its 00:12:55.309 --> 00:12:58.330 cheese industry, and the area around New York 00:12:58.330 --> 00:13:01.230 Harbor was literally the oyster capital of the 00:13:01.230 --> 00:13:04.070 world. But to run all those sprawling factories, 00:13:04.490 --> 00:13:06.820 you need a workforce. I know immigration was 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:09.419 a huge factor, but what kind of scale are we 00:13:09.419 --> 00:13:11.279 actually talking about here? It's almost hard 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:14.759 to wrap your head around. Between 1855 and 1890 00:13:14.759 --> 00:13:18.080 alone, an estimated eight million immigrants 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:20.480 came through Castle Clinton at Battery Park. 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:23.679 Eight million. Yes. And then Ellis Island opened 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:27.580 in 1892, processing millions more over the coming 00:13:27.580 --> 00:13:30.500 decades. Greeted by the Statue of Liberty. the 00:13:30.500 --> 00:13:33.080 mother of exiles. But managing that explosive 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:35.740 population growth wasn't pretty. It led to the 00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:38.860 rise of political machines, most famously Tammany 00:13:38.860 --> 00:13:41.529 Hall. How did a machine like Tammany actually 00:13:41.529 --> 00:13:44.250 maintain that much control over millions of people? 00:13:44.450 --> 00:13:46.809 Well, it was a totally transactional system. 00:13:47.029 --> 00:13:49.490 When new immigrants arrived, bewildered and often 00:13:49.490 --> 00:13:52.870 destitute, Tammany Hall ward bosses were right 00:13:52.870 --> 00:13:55.129 there at the docks. Just waiting for them. Yep. 00:13:55.549 --> 00:13:57.210 They provided buckets of coal in the winter, 00:13:57.389 --> 00:13:59.850 they helped find housing, and they secured jobs 00:13:59.850 --> 00:14:03.110 in city construction. In exchange, the immigrants 00:14:03.110 --> 00:14:05.610 provided the one thing Tammany needed, which 00:14:05.610 --> 00:14:09.009 was votes. They maintained power by weaponizing 00:14:09.009 --> 00:14:11.950 the basic needs of the poor. I found a really 00:14:11.950 --> 00:14:14.049 fascinating contradiction in the sources regarding 00:14:14.049 --> 00:14:16.509 Tammany Hall and the progressive movement. Oh 00:14:16.509 --> 00:14:18.789 yeah. Yes, the progressives, led by figures like 00:14:18.789 --> 00:14:20.909 Theodore Roosevelt, were fighting tooth and nail 00:14:20.909 --> 00:14:23.490 against these corrupt machines. You'd assume 00:14:23.490 --> 00:14:25.549 Tammany Hall would oppose everything the progressives 00:14:25.549 --> 00:14:27.850 wanted, including the push for women's suffrage. 00:14:28.110 --> 00:14:31.309 And they did, initially. Tammany leaders feared 00:14:31.309 --> 00:14:33.730 that adding women to the voter rolls would dilute 00:14:33.730 --> 00:14:35.990 their tight control over the male voters they 00:14:35.990 --> 00:14:38.350 already had in their pockets. Right. But when 00:14:38.350 --> 00:14:41.409 the 1917 New York State referendum on women's 00:14:41.409 --> 00:14:43.990 suffrage actually happened, Tammany Hall took 00:14:43.990 --> 00:14:46.789 a neutral stance. Do you know why? Why the sudden 00:14:46.789 --> 00:14:50.230 shift? Because the wives and daughters of their 00:14:50.230 --> 00:14:52.990 own machine leaders were actively pushing for 00:14:52.990 --> 00:14:55.529 the right to vote. Oh, wow. Yeah, the ward bosses 00:14:55.529 --> 00:14:57.330 couldn't stop the movement inside their own homes, 00:14:57.529 --> 00:15:00.179 so they had to back off. That neutral stance 00:15:00.179 --> 00:15:02.299 was a crucial reason the referendum actually 00:15:02.299 --> 00:15:04.690 passed in New York. This raises an important 00:15:04.690 --> 00:15:06.950 question about how New York operates. The state 00:15:06.950 --> 00:15:09.590 has always had to balance raw capitalist and 00:15:09.590 --> 00:15:12.710 political power with the sheer humanity and demands 00:15:12.710 --> 00:15:14.809 of the people actually living there. Speaking 00:15:14.809 --> 00:15:16.730 of raw capitalism, we have all these millions 00:15:16.730 --> 00:15:19.250 of people, all this industry, and all this immense 00:15:19.250 --> 00:15:21.429 wealth consolidating New York City after World 00:15:21.429 --> 00:15:24.629 War I. But Manhattan is just a tiny island. Where 00:15:24.629 --> 00:15:26.929 do they all go? They go up. This is the birth 00:15:26.929 --> 00:15:29.409 of the iconic skyscraper boom during the Roaring 00:15:29.409 --> 00:15:32.110 Twenties. Finally we get to the concrete. Exactly. 00:15:32.909 --> 00:15:36.230 physical space intersecting with an unprecedented 00:15:36.230 --> 00:15:39.549 concentration of post -war capital. Corporations 00:15:39.549 --> 00:15:41.830 wanted the prestige of a Manhattan headquarters 00:15:41.830 --> 00:15:45.850 and the only way to build was skyward. This era 00:15:45.850 --> 00:15:48.490 gave us architectural marvels like the Woolworth 00:15:48.490 --> 00:15:51.409 building, the Chrysler building, and eventually 00:15:51.409 --> 00:15:55.370 the Empire State Building in 1931. The skyline 00:15:55.370 --> 00:15:58.169 became a physical manifestation of New York's 00:15:58.169 --> 00:16:01.019 economic dominance. But that roaring economy 00:16:01.019 --> 00:16:03.779 crashes hard during the Great Depression. I read 00:16:03.779 --> 00:16:06.519 the state faced upwards of 25 percent unemployment. 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:08.960 It was devastating. But again, we see the state 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:11.860 adapting. New York's response, spearheaded by 00:16:11.860 --> 00:16:14.600 Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, created the 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:17.000 first comprehensive work relief programs in the 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.679 nation, programs he later expanded into the New 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:21.720 Deal when he became president. And then World 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:24.000 War II pulls the country out of the Depression, 00:16:24.419 --> 00:16:26.639 and New York's industrial capacity just peaks. 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:29.659 The state produced 11 % of all United States 00:16:29.659 --> 00:16:32.179 military armaments. Which is an incredible output 00:16:32.179 --> 00:16:34.919 for one state. Absolutely. But what happens to 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:37.419 the people when the soldiers come home? Well... 00:16:37.210 --> 00:16:39.990 The GI Bill gave returning veterans the opportunity 00:16:39.990 --> 00:16:42.690 for higher education, but the private universities 00:16:42.690 --> 00:16:45.169 in New York simply couldn't handle the influx 00:16:45.169 --> 00:16:46.850 of hundreds of thousands of students. Right. 00:16:46.850 --> 00:16:49.909 They were overflowing. Exactly. So the state 00:16:49.909 --> 00:16:52.470 was literally forced to create the State University 00:16:52.470 --> 00:16:56.549 of New York System, SUNY, in 1948 just to accommodate 00:16:56.549 --> 00:16:59.029 the volume. It's a perfect example of the state 00:16:59.029 --> 00:17:02.450 rapidly engineering a solution to serve a demographic 00:17:02.450 --> 00:17:05.990 explosion. But that post -war era marks a turning 00:17:05.990 --> 00:17:09.539 point. the peak industrial output ends, triggering 00:17:09.539 --> 00:17:12.200 another monumental shift. Yeah, things change 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:14.380 fast. I feel like it's less of a shift and more 00:17:14.380 --> 00:17:18.420 like a computer getting a software update. Oh, 00:17:18.420 --> 00:17:20.380 right, like shedding the physical hardware and 00:17:20.380 --> 00:17:22.859 rewriting the operating system. Exactly. The 00:17:22.859 --> 00:17:25.119 state essentially had to shed its old manufacturing 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:26.980 hardware, you know, the physical factories that 00:17:26.980 --> 00:17:29.839 were closing down or moving south and west, chasing 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:32.339 cheaper labor. Right. It had to rewrite its code 00:17:32.339 --> 00:17:35.480 to run almost entirely on high -tech financial 00:17:35.480 --> 00:17:38.000 and cultural services. The transition was turbulent, 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:42.240 though. The post -war era brought intense decentralization. 00:17:42.940 --> 00:17:45.299 The growing middle class bought cars and fled 00:17:45.299 --> 00:17:47.599 the cities for the suburbs, creating sprawling 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:49.920 developments like Levittown on Long Island. Oh, 00:17:50.059 --> 00:17:52.599 the suburbs. Boom. Yeah. And to connect this 00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:55.779 new car -centric culture, the state built the 00:17:55.779 --> 00:17:58.440 New York State Thruway, which upstate Democrats 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:01.900 mockingly called Dewey's ditch at the time. Dewey's 00:18:01.900 --> 00:18:04.839 ditch, that's harsh. Meanwhile, the cities themselves 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:08.359 hollowed out. By the 1970s, New York City was 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:10.579 teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, dealing 00:18:10.579 --> 00:18:13.720 with crime and decaying infrastructure. Upstate 00:18:13.720 --> 00:18:16.140 cities like Buffalo saw their populations just 00:18:16.140 --> 00:18:18.559 plummet as the steel mills and factories went 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:21.099 quiet. It was a very dark period, yet out of 00:18:21.099 --> 00:18:23.160 that urban decay came a cultural and service 00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:25.299 industry renaissance. It's incredible. You have 00:18:25.299 --> 00:18:28.519 the birth of hip hop and rap music emerging directly 00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:30.299 from the struggling neighborhoods of the Bronx. 00:18:30.779 --> 00:18:33.279 New York City reclaims its title as a global 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:36.740 media capital, hosting major national news networks 00:18:36.740 --> 00:18:39.839 and publishing houses. And Wall Street experiences 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:42.930 a boom. pioneering new financial mechanisms like 00:18:42.930 --> 00:18:45.970 junk bond trading. Finance basically became the 00:18:45.970 --> 00:18:48.069 new factory floor. We do have to acknowledge 00:18:48.069 --> 00:18:51.109 though that this software update had uneven results. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:54.619 Well, while New York City adapted and thrived 00:18:54.619 --> 00:18:57.079 in the information economy, much of upstate did 00:18:57.079 --> 00:19:00.160 not. The high tech and finance industries didn't 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:02.720 replace the lost manufacturing jobs in rural 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:05.599 areas, and traditional farming continued a steep 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:07.700 decline. That's a great point. And entering the 00:19:07.700 --> 00:19:10.220 21st century, the state's resilience was tested 00:19:10.220 --> 00:19:13.180 not just by economics, but by devastating physical 00:19:13.180 --> 00:19:15.900 tragedies. Yes. The September 11th attacks in 00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:19.519 2001 killed nearly 3 ,000 people, bringing down 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:21.990 the World Trade Center towers. The response to 00:19:21.990 --> 00:19:24.430 that was a profound testament to the state's 00:19:24.430 --> 00:19:27.170 spirit. Thousands of citizens volunteered in 00:19:27.170 --> 00:19:29.589 the agonizing recovery effort. It was an incredible 00:19:29.589 --> 00:19:31.930 coming together. It really was. And over the 00:19:31.930 --> 00:19:35.390 next decade, the city slowly rebuilt that shattered 00:19:35.390 --> 00:19:38.250 acreage, culminating in the opening of One World 00:19:38.250 --> 00:19:41.930 Trade Center in 2014. But the hits from the physical 00:19:41.930 --> 00:19:45.839 world just kept coming. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:49.279 ravaged the state's coastlines. We're talking 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:52.519 about record high storm surges that flooded the 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:55.099 subway systems in New York City, plunged millions 00:19:55.099 --> 00:19:57.759 into darkness, and decimated neighborhoods out 00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:00.200 on Long Island. Which brings us back to the core 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:02.799 mechanism of New York's history, adaptation. 00:20:03.329 --> 00:20:06.049 New York's story proves that adaptation is the 00:20:06.049 --> 00:20:09.089 only way to survive. This is a state that transitioned 00:20:09.089 --> 00:20:11.809 from a Native Confederacy trading beaver pelts 00:20:11.809 --> 00:20:15.210 to Wall Street brokers trading junk bonds. It 00:20:15.210 --> 00:20:17.329 went from hauling agricultural goods on a hand 00:20:17.329 --> 00:20:20.250 dug canal to broadcasting global media through 00:20:20.250 --> 00:20:22.730 fiber optic cables. So what does this all mean? 00:20:22.769 --> 00:20:24.849 From the ancient Iroquois trade networks to the 00:20:24.849 --> 00:20:27.470 modern steel and glass metropolis, New York has 00:20:27.470 --> 00:20:30.369 never been static. It isn't a museum. It is entirely 00:20:30.369 --> 00:20:32.509 defined by the relentless, sometimes chaotic 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:35.119 churn of different people, ideas and industries 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:37.539 colliding. It really makes you look at the place 00:20:37.539 --> 00:20:40.700 you live differently. I'd encourage you, listening 00:20:40.700 --> 00:20:43.220 to this, to think about what historical forces 00:20:43.220 --> 00:20:45.640 are currently shaping your own hometown. You 00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:47.680 know, what layers are hiding just beneath the 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:49.839 pavement where you walk. What stands out to you 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:52.400 about how New York has continuously evolved? 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:54.400 I want to leave you with one final thought to 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:57.019 mull over building on the devastation of Hurricane 00:20:57.019 --> 00:21:00.660 Sandy, the very geography that birthed New York's 00:21:00.660 --> 00:21:03.799 immense prosperity. You know, the deep natural 00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:06.740 harbor, the Hudson River, its immediate proximity 00:21:06.740 --> 00:21:09.740 to the Atlantic Ocean. That same geography is 00:21:09.740 --> 00:21:13.380 now due to rising sea levels becoming its greatest 00:21:13.380 --> 00:21:16.200 existential threat. It's ironic. It is. The state 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:19.079 is currently having to engineer massive seawalls 00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:21.640 and coastal barriers just to survive the water 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:23.839 that made it rich in the first place. How will 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:26.759 the Empire State adapt to this one? Can you really 00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:29.039 build a wall against the ocean, or will New York 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:31.160 have to completely reinvent its relationship 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:33.519 with the water all over again? Just remember, 00:21:33.900 --> 00:21:36.000 underneath all that concrete, the glaciers and 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:37.859 the rivers are still there. They always have 00:21:37.859 --> 00:21:39.960 been. Thanks for joining us on this deep dive.