The Hudson Valley During the American Revolution The Dutch settled the Hudson Valley in the early 17th century. The Hudson Valley was of great commercial and military importance during the pre-revolutionary period. During the American Revolution the Hudson was a strategic waterway and the site of many historic events, especially in the region of Newburg and West Point. Many battles were fought and many lives were changed by the Revolution in the Hudson Valley.In the pre-revolutionary period the Hudson Valley was of great importance. In 1765 the Stamp act Congress met to shake the existing government established by the English. American opposition to the Stamp Act began shortly after its passage in March 1765. The colonists were fed up with taxation without representation, and desired change. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York City in October 1765. Delegates from nine colonies attended, and petitioned the king for repeal of the act, denouncing it as taxation without representation. Many British merchants joined in this appeal. Their exports of manufactures to the colonies had increased markedly since 1750 and they feared the effects of American refusal to pay commercial debts amounting to millions of pounds. On October 31, the day before the Stamp Act was to go into effect, 200 merchants in New York City vowed to stop importing British goods, beginning the First No importation Movement. Then they joined storekeepers, artisans, sailors, and laborers in a mass protest meeting. On the next night, 2000 residents surrounded the fort where the stamps were being guarded and then plundered the house of a British officer (French, pg 56). These mob actions prompted the lieutenant governor to ask General Thomas Gage, the British military commander in North America, to rout the protesters by force. In Albany the local merchants joined in no importation agreements. Groups of artisans, calling themselves Sons of Liberty, forcibly pr...
