As part of our celebration of America at 250, we’ve started a weekly newsletter by historian Jonathan Horn. Learn what happened this week in American history, why it matters, and what else you should see and read in The Free Press and beyond. This week Jonathan looks at George Washington’s controversial decision to send troops to New York City. To get this newsletter in your inbox every week, sign up here. —The Editors
When Connecticut Marched on New York
The message showed up on the streets in late January amid fears that the bonds of society were breaking and that neighborhoods would soon be in flames. “Your city, my friends, has been brought into a state truly degrading to the name of Americans,” the anonymous author wrote. Some called on the commander in chief to send troops. If he delayed, the city might become the gateway for a full-fledged invasion of America. “You have it in your power at present to prevent this dreadful event,” read one letter. “Congress have given you authority to take any step in that place.”
Although the quoted passages may sound timely, both come from 250-year-old documents—one an anonymous broadside and the other a letter to General George Washington—about unrest in New York City. Like the situation in Minneapolis today, the one back then led to a debate over whether forces raised outside a state, or rather a colony, should operate inside its borders. This week in January 1776, a delegation from the Continental Congress arrived in New York on a mission to negotiate the unthinkable: the city’s occupation by troops from Connecticut.
