To begin to understand this, we need to know something about religion. England in the late seventeenth century was deeply divided along religious lines. King James II was Catholic, and although many Protestants tolerated him, panic spread when it appeared that a Catholic dynasty might follow. In 1688, Parliament invited the Dutch Protestant rulers William of Orange and his wife Mary to take the throne. James fled to France, and the so-called Glorious Revolution unfolded with remarkably little fighting.1<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Situation in New York <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n News of these events reached New York slowly and unevenly. The colony\u2019s governor, Colonel Francis Nicholson, at first ignored and even tried to suppress the information. Since James II had appointed him, Nicholson remained hopeful that the news might prove to be false, and that he might soon receive word from William and Mary to remain at his post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As weeks passed, New York\u2019s Protestant population grew increasingly suspicious. Rumors spread that Nicholson might side with Catholic France and even deliver the colony to Quebec. When Nicholson angrily declared that he would rather burn New York City than tolerate insubordination, tensions boiled over.2<\/a><\/sup> Protesters seized Fort James at the southern tip of Manhattan, and Nicholson fled for England, leaving behind a power vacuum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The vacuum was filled by a German immigrant, Jacob Leisler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jacob Leisler<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Born in Frankfurt to a Calvinist family, Jacob Leisler moved to Amsterdam in 1658. There he made various contacts with the Dutch West India Company, which sent him to New Netherland as a soldier in 1660. He earned considerable money as a merchant trading furs and tobacco. His marriage to the wealthy widow Elsie Tymens van der Veen brought him considerable landholdings, which he continued to expand and build his wealth. He was an active member of the community, serving as a captain in the militia and on several juries, one of which was a witch trial, though we don\u2019t know how he voted.3<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Leisler was a Calvinist, and like many other Protestants, despised the Catholic Church, as well as any rulers who supported it. As an example of his dedication to supporting Protestantism, several Huguenot refugees arrived in New York from France in 1686. Leilser used his own money to pay for their immigration expenses, and he also purchased 6,100 acres of land for them in New Rochelle, NY.4<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Leisler\u2019s Rebellion <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the spring of 1689, fears of a Catholic-backed French invasion spread through New York. Many colonists doubted whether officials appointed by James II could be trusted to defend the colony. A coalition of Protestants, Dutch merchants, and lower-class New Yorkers seized Fort James and pledged loyalty to William and Mary. They claimed their mission was to defend the colony \u201cagainst all your Majesties enemies whatsoever until such time [as] your Majesty\u2019s royall will shall be further known.\u201d5<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n This diverse group of rebels needed to unite behind a new leader, and they chose Jacob Leisler for the role. Although Leisler did not initiate the rebellion, his popularity among the Dutch, lower classes, and Protestants garnered him enough support to be elected as commander of the militia and Fort James. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Leisler agreed to remain in command until William and Mary sent a proper replacement, and his Protestant faith clearly shaped that decision. In a letter to William and Mary, he warned that many of New York\u2019s former rulers were \u201cstill affected by the Papist.\u201d Soon after, the city\u2019s inhabitants formed a Committee of Safety, which Leisler claimed existed to protect the \u201cProtestant power that now raings in England.\u201d6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Leisler\u2019s Legal Authority <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n By mid-August 1689, the Committee of Public Safety expanded Leisler\u2019s authority beyond Fort James to include the entire province of New York. According to one member of the Committee, they selected Leisler because he was \u201ca true Protestant Germanian,\u201d and \u201ca man of fervent zeale for the Protestant religion.\u201d This again underscores the central role religion played in Leisler\u2019s Rebellion.7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Leisler, however, stood on shaky legal ground, since no British authority had formally granted him the power to rule. Technically, Governor Nicholson remained the lawful governor. That ambiguity deepened when a letter from William and Mary arrived addressed to Nicholson. Because Nicholson was halfway across the Atlantic, Leisler opened the letter. It instructed Nicholson to continue governing, but also stipulated that, \u201cin his [Nicholson\u2019s] absence, to such as for the time being take care for preserving the peace and administering the lawes in our said Province of New York in America.\u201d8<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Leisler believed himself to be preserving the peace and administering the laws \u201cfor the time being,\u201d and he used this language to justify his authority. Soon after, the Committee of Public Safety formally declared the governor\u2019s seat vacant and assigned it to Leisler. Now vested with full authority, he could truly get to work.9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Leisler’s Government<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Leisler moved quickly to establish order. He appointed military officers, law enforcement officials, tax collectors, and justices of the peace, and organized elections for mayor and other municipal positions. Although he viewed his authority as temporary, believing it his duty to keep New York from the \u201cPopish doggs and divells\u201d until William and Mary could appoint Protestant rulers, he relied on increasingly draconian measures that gradually eroded his support.10<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Leisler knew that many New Yorkers remained loyal to James II and might seek to undermine his authority. To prevent potential threats from forming beyond the colony, he prohibited anyone from leaving without his permission.11<\/a><\/sup> Within New York, those suspected of harboring anti-Leislerian views had their homes raided and their mail intercepted, and were arrested without warrants and held for indefinite periods without being charged with a crime. These repressive policies contributed to a small counter-rebellion in June 1690, when several saboteurs attempted to blow up Fort James and seize Leisler in the street. Brandishing his sword, he narrowly escaped, arrested the offenders, and later released them without explanation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also worth noting what Leisler did not do. If this was truly a rebellion, it would have required the creation of a new political order to replace the old one. Yet Leisler made no effort to establish a legislature or any form of representative government, and it remains unclear why. When the Committee of Public Safety attempted to raise questions of fundamental rights and liberties, Leisler abruptly dismissed them, and the issue never resurfaced.12<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n The First Intercolonial Congress <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While Leisler consolidated his authority in New York City, French Canada loomed on the northern frontier. In February 1690, French forces attacked and burned Schenectady, killing roughly sixty inhabitants. The assault made clear that the British colonies faced a shared threat. Leisler concluded that they would need to unite quickly if they hoped to resist further French attacks. He sent invitations to the governors of Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Plymouth, Maryland, and Virginia, asking them to meet in New York to coordinate a collective response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not all of the colonies replied, and only Connecticut agreed to provide soldiers. The resulting campaign against the French collapsed under the weight of delays, disease, miscommunication, and poor coordination.13<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the effort failed, the very first attempt to unite the American colonies through an intercolonial Congress was organized by a German immigrant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leisler\u2019s Demise <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While Leisler was consolidating his control of New York, William and Mary appointed Colonel Henry Sloughter as the colony\u2019s new governor. In January 1691, nearly eighteen months after Leisler had seized power, a fleet of British ships appeared on the horizon. Sloughter, however, was not among them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fleet had been scattered during the Atlantic crossing, and Sloughter\u2019s second in command, Major Richard Ingoldsby, arrived first with a substantial force of soldiers. Leisler withdrew into Fort James, where Ingoldsby demanded his immediate surrender. Leisler refused, insisting that he would not yield without seeing Sloughter\u2019s official commission, which was still somewhere at sea. A tense stalemate followed and lasted for six weeks, during which several of Ingoldsby\u2019s soldiers were killed by Leisler\u2019s men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Sloughter finally arrived, commission in hand, Leisler had no choice but to surrender. He was arrested at once and charged with treason. A hastily assembled court, which was made up of Ingoldsby and men whom Leisler had previously imprisoned in Fort James, quickly convicted him. Although Sloughter initially pardoned many of Leisler\u2019s supporters, Ingoldsby plied him with wine and persuaded him to uphold Leisler\u2019s sentence. It decreed that Leisler was to \u201cbe hanged by the Neck and being Alive their bodys be Cutt Downe to the Earth that their Bowells be taken out and they being Alive burnt before their faces that their heads shall be struck off and their Bodys Cutt in four parts and which shall be Desposed of as their Majesties shall Assigne.\u201d14<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n On a rainy May 16, 1691, Leisler was led to the gallows. He spoke briefly, explaining that \u201cThis confused City and Province\u201d required \u201cmore wise & Cunning powerful Pilotts than either of us ever was\u201d (The \u201cus\u201d refers to Leisler\u2019s co-conspirator, Jacob Milborne, who was also executed). As his body hung, onlookers cut pieces of his hair and clothing as relics. He was buried near the modern intersection of Park Row, Spruce Street, and Frankfort Street. After World War I, a bronze tablet honoring Leisler was placed on a boulder in City Hall Park, but Robert Moses removed it a decade later.15<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is nothing left in New York City to commemorate Leisler or his rebellion. Yet just to the north, in the city of New Rochelle, a statue honors his role in providing refuge for religious refugees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It also stands as a reminder of the German immigrant who, for a brief moment, ruled New York, and who was the first to organize an intercolonial congress in North America.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Ein deutscher Einwanderer wurde Gouverneur von New York und organisierte den ersten interkolonialen Kongress in Nordamerika. Er wurde daf\u00fcr hingerichtet.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":177955482,"featured_media":669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"Anbinder, Tyler. City of Dreams<\/em>: The 400 Year Epic History of Immigrant New York<\/em>. Houghton Mifflin Court, Boston, 2016. 41-42. \",\"id\":\"80158fd2-293a-4df0-bd09-7028e18a4aaf\"},{\"content\":\"Burrows, Edwin & Wallace, Mike. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. <\/em>Oxford University Press, 1999. 96-97.\",\"id\":\"e8795163-c1df-47e9-8e06-62d8d134c865\"},{\"content\":\"Voorhees, David William. \u201cThe \u2018Fervent Zeale\u2019 of Jacob Leisler.\u201d The William and Mary Quarterly<\/em>, vol. 51, no. 3, 1994, pp. 447\u201372. JSTOR<\/em>, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/2947438. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.\",\"id\":\"f72f76ca-1b67-41d7-b126-0c3128b47e14\"},{\"content\":\"Tolzmann, Don Heinrich. The German American Experience<\/em>. Humanity Books, 2000. 39. \",\"id\":\"80d2adb7-091c-44b1-ada2-07c26ac1a368\"},{\"content\":\"Burrows & Wallace, 97, & Anbinder, 43. \",\"id\":\"56a1251a-16f5-478a-a2cb-bc54968f18ef\"},{\"content\":\"Anbinder, 42-44.\",\"id\":\"c66ba64a-df3c-4515-b5df-4848438f076a\"},{\"content\":\"Ibid, 44. \",\"id\":\"2b1f056f-0344-4072-afdb-b1ad10d0575a\"},{\"content\":\"Burrows & Wallace, 97.\",\"id\":\"bf94bfae-a8a7-4655-b236-30c03463d40e\"},{\"content\":\"Kammen, Michael. Colonial New York<\/em>. Oxford University Press, 1975. 123.\",\"id\":\"ef3d0f39-185b-4284-902c-f6ee9021c356\"},{\"content\":\"Anbinder, 44.\",\"id\":\"ffd3bc70-3579-45af-bb78-12c43ace59f4\"},{\"content\":\"Kammen, 124.\",\"id\":\"0eccf257-8947-45e4-954b-ffa0be580c5e\"},{\"content\":\"Burrows & Wallace, 100.\",\"id\":\"3d3f54fd-f8c0-474d-839e-a21b441f17a8\"},{\"content\":\"Tolzmann, 40.\",\"id\":\"ebea1be2-4e56-49fb-85d9-7c696e6d7717\"},{\"content\":\"Burrows & Wallace, 101, & Anbinder, 45-46.\",\"id\":\"d0c80239-ac6b-40bf-a205-00bd48c1be8b\"},{\"content\":\"Burrows & Wallace, 102.\",\"id\":\"df24b231-e98f-4d6f-9189-231bb79ecb6e\"}]","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6556369],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-german-immigrants"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thegermantapestry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Jacob_Leisler_statue_New_Rochelle_New_York.jpg?fit=2288%2C1712&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/ph09rR-aC","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/177955482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":681,"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions\/681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegermantapestry.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thegermantapestry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Fort-George-New-York-768x447-1.webp?resize=768%2C447&ssl=1\")
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