The Hudson Valley played a central role in the American Revolution, helping shape the outcome of the war and the future of the country.

Author and journalist David Levine recently explored that history in his Times Union article, “How the Hudson Valley Made America.”

Levine is also the author of The Hudson Valley: The First 250 Million Years.

Speaking with Radio Catskill’s Patricio Robayo, Levine said control of the Hudson River was one of the key strategic goals of the Revolution.

“A third of all the battles that were fought during the Revolution were in New York,” Levine said. “Most of them, if not all of them, were about control of the Hudson River.”

The British hoped to control the river and separate New England from the Mid-Atlantic and Southern colonies.

Levine said historians have told him an American victory would have been unlikely if the British had succeeded.

The American victory at Saratoga became a major turning point.

Levine said the victory helped convince France that the Americans had a realistic chance of defeating Britain.

France later provided money, ships, weapons and other support to the American cause.

“I don’t know if the U.S. would have finished the job without the French help,” Levine said.

The Hudson River was also at the center of Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British.

American forces had placed a massive iron chain across the river near West Point to prevent British ships from moving north.

“The reason the British wanted West Point was to get the river,” Levine said.

Capturing the fort could have allowed British forces to remove the chain and regain control of the Hudson.

The region also played a major political role during the Revolution.

New York’s first state constitution was adopted in Kingston in 1777, and the state’s first government met there.

Levine said the Hudson River was critical for transportation and helped determine where political and economic centers developed.

“The river has always been central to New York State’s history,” Levine said.

Later in the war, George Washington established his headquarters in Newburgh.

Levine said Washington’s decision to give up power rather than become something resembling a king helped establish one of the country’s most important democratic traditions.

“Many people think the greatest thing George Washington ever did was resign the presidency,” Levine said.

He said the peaceful transfer of power became a defining principle of American government.

Levine’s book looks beyond the Revolution to explore the much longer history of the Hudson Valley, including the glaciers that shaped the landscape, Indigenous history, European settlement and the region’s development over hundreds of millions of years.

He describes the book as a journalistic and sometimes personal look at the region rather than a traditional history textbook.

Levine said much of that history remains unfamiliar even to people who have lived in the Hudson Valley their entire lives.

“If the Hudson River was in Europe, it would draw tourists from around the world,” Levine said. “It’s beautiful. It’s historic.”

Levine said he hopes people who live in the region will spend more time learning about and exploring the history around them.

The Hudson Valley: The First 250 Million Years is available on Amazon, where the book has a 4.2-star rating:

Chronogram also reviewed Levine’s book as part of its Hudson Valley book coverage: