New York in the late 17th century was still a rude settlement but one which already was opening its doors to a great variety of nationalities. Its citizens were independent individuals, valuing freedom and self-government above everything. When Colonel Thomas Dongan, the Duke of York's new governor, arrived from England with a royal proclamation guaranteeing the rights of assembly and the making of their own laws, the people of New York greeted him with cheers.

But all was not smooth sailing. First of all there were the Indians. The Five Nations were willing to accept Governor Dongan as their "Corlaer"—their great sachem—only if he offered them protection from the French. Then there were those who hated Dongan and plotted against him because of his religion. To make things even more difficult, when King James ascended the British throne he denied the New York colony the rights he had originally granted it.

The story of how Thomas Dongan overcame these obstacles, how he drove back the French and made peace among the Five Nations, how he fought for the New York charter, and how, in the end, he was rewarded by humiliation and suffering is one of nobility in the true American tradition. It was Thomas Dongan and the men like him who secured the first frontiers of the United States and made them safe for the generations which followed.

From the dust jacket