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Archiver > Dutch-Colonies > 2004-10 > 1098333709


From: "Louanne Van Pelt" <>
Subject: Re: [D-Col] Trade in New Amsterdam was New York Videos
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 22:41:49 -0600
References: <NFBBJFAEPPEEMLKHKHDFEEMKKCAA.edieb@suscom-maine.net>


I'm with you Edie - everybody came here to "make a buck (guilder)" - let's hope this country will always be a place where one can better him/herself. LVP in Colorado.
----- Original Message -----
From: Edith Bailes<mailto:>
To: <mailto:>
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 5:42 PM
Subject: [D-Col] Trade in New Amsterdam was New York Videos


I was hoping somebody better qualified than I would comment, but since
nobody has I'll stick my neck out!

The article Howard Swain posted is most interesting and I learned a lot from
it, which I appreciate. Thanks to Howard for posting it. I'm not
knowledgeable enough to comment on most of it.

I taped the "New York" show when it was broadcast here years ago. I have
watched it several times, and I would like to comment on one aspect of it
and of Ms. Fabend's article. I have a view that is somewhere between Ric
Burns's and Ms. Fabend's, and I hope this will start an interesting
discussion but please not an argument.

My Dutch ancestry was only made known to me a couple of years ago (thanks,
Dorothy Koenig!) and I am very proud of it and very pleased that I am part
of the great Dutch family.

The people in the program who said things like "The Dutch came here to make
a buck, to make a guilder" perhaps stated things a little too baldly for
many peoples' tastes, but I think they were right.

If I'm not mistaken, the Dutch at the time of New Amsterdam were a major
power in the world, and arguably the world's greatest traders. If you've
heard of the Dutch EAST India Company, you must know that is what they did.
Their sole purpose was trade. They sailed all around the world trading
everywhere they went, and just about everywhere they went they made money.

New Amsterdam was a trading outpost of that great trading nation. People
didn't come to New Netherland for religious freedom; as was said, they
already had religious freedom (that's why the Pilgrims moved to the
Netherlands from England). They certainly didn't come to Manhattan for a
holiday; they came to set up a trading post, with the manufacturing
capability that was needed to support that trade. There is nothing whatever
wrong with that; certainly nothing to be ashamed of.

It's only been fairly recently that the idea seems to have taken hold among
some people in the US that there is something wrong with making money. I
hope that is not the case here. For most of our history, I think you could
probably say that everybody who came to the US, even in the earliwest days,
came with the idea of "bettering" themselves, of climbing the economic
ladder, of providing for their children, and the way they thought to do this
was to increase their income, whether by trading or by some other means.
Most people want to make things better for themselves and their children,
even today. That often involves making more money. I think everybody has the
right to do that and I wish them well.

I'm pleased that some of my ancestors are Dutch, whatever it was they did.
If they made money, I think that's a great idea. I just wish they'd made
more of it, and had been able to hang on to more of it and pass it along. I
certainly didn't get any of it!

I don't think the PBS program was wrong about the Dutch being great traders
and I certainly don't think Ms. Fabend is wrong about that, either. I hope
we are all able to listen to another viewpoint without closing our minds or
hearts. Sometimes it's good for us to get a little different slant on
things. The "truth" is not always crystal clear; it may mean different
things to different people.

It would be interesting to hear from people in The Netherlands, to see how
far off I am!

Best wishes to all

Edie in Maine

I


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