At the same time Stuyvesant was just as busy with his neighbors' affairs. He quarreled with the English in New England, as well as with the patroons in his own colony.
Stuyvesant claimed all the region now included in New Jersey, a large part of that in the states of New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, and also a part of the territory of New England.
Government by the people demanded
The colony grew in numbers. New towns sprang up along the Hudson and on Long Island. But the increase in the number of the towns only made the call for a government by the people still louder.
For several years the dispute between the people and the governor went on until, one day in 1664, news came that a fleet of English war vessels was in sight. Although England and Holland were at peace, the English king had given New Netherland to his brother, the Duke of York, and the English fleet had come to take it for the duke.
A VIEW OF THE CITY AND HARBOR OF NEW AMSTERDAM (NEW YORK), 1656
Governor Stuyvesant was resolved to defend the colony to the last. But he was surprised to find that his people were not willing to fight for a governor who had given them so little share in governing themselves.
What Stuyvesant learned after it was too late
Brave to the last