The Twelve Men was a group of 12 citizens chosen by the residents of New Netherland to advise its Director-General, Willem Kieft, on relations with the Native Americans in the wake of the murder of Claes Swits. Elected on 29 August 1641, the temporary council was the first representational form of democracy in the Dutch colony. The next two such bodies were known as the Eight Men and the Nine Men. Background The Dutch West India Company had incurred significant expenses building and manning fortifications. Kieft sought to offset some of the cost by demanding contribution from the Indians, whom he saw as deriving protection from rival tribes. They declined, pointing out that the Dutch had not been invited in the first place, and with the Indian settlements so scattered, by the time word reached the fort any help dispatched would be too late. In the spring of 1640, some Raritan Indians attacked a Company trading boat near Staten Island and stole a canoe. They were subsequently mistakenly blamed for the theft of some pigs from the farm of David Pietersz. de Vries. Kieft sent Cornelis van Tienhoven with a force of seventy soldiers and sailors to demand payment. The Raritan declined to pay for pigs that they had not taken. As the meeting broke up, the Dutch suddenly attacked, killing a few Raritan, capturing several and routing the rest. Within six weeks the Raritan responded by burning De Vries' house and tobacco sheds. Four colonists died. Kieft spread word to several other tribes that he would pay a bounty in wampum for every head of a Raritan brought to him. A peace was reached by the end of the year. In August 1641, a Weckquaesgeek Indian killed Claes Swits, an elderly Swiss immigrant who ran a public house frequented by settlers and Indians alike at Turtle Bay, Manhattan. As a child, the young Indian had witnessed the murder of his uncle, and upon coming of age took revenge. The Weckquaesgeek refused to hand the killer over to the Dutch. Another incident occurred at Achter Kol along the banks of the Hackensack River. Settlers and some Hackensacks had been drinking alcohol at a trading post when a conflict arose over a missing coat which ended in the death of the post's foreman. Council of Twelve Kieft was determined to conduct punitive measures against the Indians, but reluctant to assume sole