The
Manor of Rensselaerswyck,
Manor Rensselaerswyck,
Van Rensselaer Manor, or just simply
Rensselaerswyck , is the name of a colonial estate—specifically, a
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
patroonship—owned by the van Rensselaer family that was located in what is now mainly the
Capital DistrictThe Capital District is a region in upstate New York that generally refers to the four counties surrounding Albany, the capital of the state: Albany County, Schenectady County, Rensselaer County, and Saratoga County...
of
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The estate was originally deeded by the
Dutch West India CompanyDutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx . On June 3, 1621, it was granted a charter for a trade monopoly in the West Indies by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over the African slave...
in 1630 to Kiliaen van Rensselaer, a Dutch merchant and one of the company's original directors. Rensselaerswyck lay on both sides of the
Hudson RiverThe Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. It rises at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains, flows past Albany, and finally forms the border between New York City and New Jersey at its mouth before emptying into...
near present-day
AlbanyAlbany is a city in the United States of America; it is the capital of the state of New York and the county seat of Albany County. Albany is roughly 136 miles north of the city of New York, and slightly south of the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. The city sits on the Hudson River and...
and included parts of the present New York counties of
AlbanyAlbany County is a county located in the state of New York, and is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The name is from the title of the Duke of York and Albany, who became James II of England. As of the 2000 census, the population was 294,565...
,
ColumbiaColumbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2000 census, the population was 63,094. The county seat is Hudson. The name comes from the Latin feminine form of the name of Christopher Columbus, which was at the time of the formation of the county a popular proposal...
,
GreeneGreene County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Its name is in honor of the American Revolutionary War general, Nathanael Greene...
, and
RensselaerRensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2000 census, the population was 152,538. Its name is in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the land in the area. Its county seat is Troy...
.
The patroonship lasted successfully for more than two centuries, dying with its last patroon,
Stephen van Rensselaer IIIStephen Van Rensselaer was Lieutenant Governor of New York as well as a statesman, soldier, and land-owner, the heir to one of the greatest estates in the New York region at the time, which made him the tenth richest American of all time, based on the ratio of his fortune to contemporary GDP...
in 1839. At his death, van Rensselaer's land holdings made him the tenth richest American in history to date. The manor was split between Stephen III's sons, Stephen IV and William. Farmers began protesting the
feudal systemFeudalism is a decentralized sociopolitical structure in which a weak monarchy attempts to control the lands of the realm through reciprocal agreements with regional leaders...
and the anti-rent movement was eventually successful, causing Stephen IV and William to sell off most of their land, ending the patroonship in the 1840s.
Establishing patroonships
Upon discovery of the Albany area by
Henry HudsonHenry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. After several voyages on behalf of English merchants to explore a prospective Northeast Passage to India, Hudson explored the region around modern New York City while looking for a western route to the Orient under...
in 1609, the Dutch claimed the area as their own and set up two forts:
Fort NassauThe name Fort Nassau was used by the Dutch in the 17th century for several fortifications, mostly trading stations, named for the House of Orange-Nassau....
in 1614 and
Fort OrangeFort Orange was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland and was on the site of the present-day city of Albany. It was a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearby Castle Island in the Hudson River and which served as a trading post until 1617 or 1618, when it was...
in 1624, both named for the Dutch royal
House of Orange-NassauThe House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years'...
. This established a Dutch presence in the area, formally called
New NetherlandNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
. In June 1620, the
Dutch West India CompanyDutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx . On June 3, 1621, it was granted a charter for a trade monopoly in the West Indies by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over the African slave...
was established by the
States-GeneralThe States-General is the parliament of the Netherlands. It consists of two chambers, the more important of which is the directly elected House of Representatives...
and given enormous powers. In the name of the States-General, it had the authority to make contracts and alliances with princes and natives, build forts, administer justice, appoint and discharge governors, soldiers, and public officers, and promote trade in New Netherland.
In 1630, the managers of the West India Company, in order to tempt the ambition of capitalists, offered certain exclusive privileges to the members of the company. The terms of the charter stated that any member who founded a colony of fifty adults in New Netherland within four years of the charter's writing would be acknowledged as a
patroonA patroon was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland in North America...
(feudal chief) of the territory to be colonized. The only restriction was that the colony had to be outside the island of
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
.
To meet such cases, the West India Company adopted the
Charter of Freedoms and ExemptionsThe Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions, sometimes referred to as the Charter of Privileges and Exemptions, is a document written by the Dutch West India Company in an effort to settle its colony of New Netherland in North America through the establishment of feudal patroonships purchased and...
for the agricultural colonization of its American province. The chief features of this charter stated that lands for each colony could extend in length if confined to one side of a navigable river or if both sides were occupied. Additionally, the lands could extend into the countryside and even be enlarged if more immigrants were to settle there.
Each patroon would have the chief command within their respective patroonship, having the sole rights to fish and hunt. If a city were to be founded within its boundaries, the patroon would have the power and authority to establish officers and magistrates. Each patroonship was free of taxes and tariffs for ten years following its founding.
The patroonships were precisely feudal: no colonists of a patroonship could leave the colony during their term of service without the written consent of the patroon, and the West India Company pledged itself to do everything in its power to apprehend and deliver up all fugitives from the patroon's service.
Colonists of a patroonship were limited by the West India Company in some instances. For example, trading of furs was illegal for colonists; it was reserved for the Company. But, patroonships had the right to trade anywhere from Newfoundland to
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
, on the understanding that traders were to stop at Manhattan to possibly trade with Holland first.
Each patroon was required to "satisfy the Indians of that place for the land", essentially implying that the land must be bought (or
barterBartering is a medium in which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods and/or services without a common unit of exchange . It can be bilateral or multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a very limited extent...
ed) from the local Indians, and not just taken. Additionally, the Company agreed to defend all colonists, whether free or in service, from all aggressors, and even supply the patroonship—for free—"with as many
blacksThe slave trade in Africa existed for thousands of years. The first main route passed through the Sahara, tying in to the Arab slave trade. After the European Age of Exploration, African slaves became part of the Atlantic slave trade, from which comes the modern, Western conception of slavery as...
as it possibly can ... for [no] longer [a] time than it shall see fit".
Founding the Manor
Kiliaen van Rensselaer, a pearl and diamond merchant of
AmsterdamAmsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country...
, was one of the original directors of the West India Company and one of the first to take advantage of the new settlement charter. On January 13, 1629, van Rensselaer sent notification to the Directors of the Company that he, in conjunction with fellow Company members Samuel Godyn and
Samuel BlommaertSamuel Blommaert was a Flemish director of the Dutch West India Company from 1622 to 1629 and again from 1636 to 1642...
, sent Gillis Houset and Jacob Jansz Cuyper to determine satisfactory locations for settlement. This took place even before the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions was ratified, but was done in agreement with a draft of the Charter from March 28, 1628. On April 8, 1630, a representative for van Rensselaer purchased a large tract of land from its American Indian owners adjacent to Fort Orange, on the west side of the Hudson River. It extended from Beeren Island north to Smack's Island and extended "two day's journey into the interior."
In the meantime, van Rensselaer made vigorous preparations to send out tenants. Early in the spring, several emigrants, with their farm implements and cattle, were sent out from Holland under Wolfert Gerritson, who was designated the overseer of farms. These pioneers of the manor embarked at the island of
TexelTexel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
in the ship
Eendragt, or
Unity, under Captain John Brouwer. In a few weeks, they arrived at Fort Orange and began at once the actual settlement of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck.
A few weeks after the arrival of the first colonists, the patroon's special agent, Gillis Hassett, secured for him a grant of land from the Indians, lying mostly to the north of Fort Orange and extending up the river to an Indian structure called Monemins Castle, situated on Haver Island at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson rivers. This and the earlier purchase completed the bounds of the manor on the west side of the Hudson.
Each tenant was required to state their loyalty to the patroon, without question. The oath of allegiance has been recorded by history and each tenant was required to state it to the patroon's representative. The following is the oath stated by each tenant:
"I, , promise and swear that I shall be true and faithful to the noble Patroon and Co-directors, or those Commissioners and Council, subjecting myself to the good and faithful inhabitant or Burgher, without exciting any oppposition, tumult, or noise; but on the contrary, as a loyal inhabitant, to maintain and support offensively and of the Colonie. And with reverence and fear of the Lord, and uplifting of both the first fingers of the rihgt hand, I say — SO TRULY HELP ME GOD ALMIGHTY."
The land on the east side of the river, extending north from
Castle IslandCastle Island is in the city of Albany, Albany County, New York and has over the past 400 years been referred to as Martin Gerritse's Island, Patroon's Island, Van Rensselaer Island, and since the late 19th century has been referred to as Westerlo Island...
to the
Mohawk RiverThe Mohawk River is a long river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk flows into the Hudson in the Capital Region, a few miles north of the city of Albany, New York. The river is named for the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy...
was then the private property of an Indian chief named Nawanemitt. This territory was called "Semesseck" by the Indians, and described in the grant as "lying on the east side of the aforesaid river, opposite the Fort Orange, as well above as below, and from Poetanock, the millcreek, northward to Negagonee, being about twelve miles, large measure."
These purchases took place on August 8, and August 13, 1630, respectively, confirmed by the council at Manhattan, and
patentsA land patent is evidence of right, title, and/or interest to a tract of land, usually granted by a central, federal, or state government to an individual or private company....
formally issued therefor. Fort Orange itself, however, with the land immediately around its walls, which grew into the city of
AlbanyAlbany is a city in the United States of America; it is the capital of the state of New York and the county seat of Albany County. Albany is roughly 136 miles north of the city of New York, and slightly south of the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. The city sits on the Hudson River and...
, still remained under the exclusive jurisdiction of the West India Company, and so Albany never was under the dominion of the patroon.
But this large purchase by van Rensselaer excited the jealousy of other capitalists, and van Rensselaer soon divided his estate around and near Fort Orange into five shares, in an effort to advance more rapidly the growth of the colony. Two of these shares he retained, together with the title and honors of the original patroon. One share was given to Johannes de Laet, another was given to Samuel Godyn, and the last to Samuel Bloommaert; these three men were influential members of the Amsterdam chamber of the West India Company. On the ancient map of the colony, "Bloommaert's Burt" is located at the mouth of what is now called Patroon's Creek. "De Laet's Island" was the original name of
van Rensselaer IslandVan Rensselaer Island was an island in the Hudson River opposite the city of Albany, New York. Today it is within the city of Rensselaer in Rensselaer County, and has been connected to the mainland on the east side and parts of the island's west side have been dredged away...
, opposite Albany. "De Laet's Burg" equates to
GreenbushRensselaer is a city in Rensselaer County, New York, U.S., located on the Hudson River, directly opposite Albany. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 7,761; in 1920, it was 10,832. The name is from Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original landowner of the region in New Netherland...
. "Godyn's Islands" are a short distance below, on the east shore. These three separate patroonships were subsequently purchased and dissolved into Rensselaerswyck proper by 1685.
Government
The government of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck was vested in a general court, which exercised executive, legislative or municipal, and judicial functions. This court was composed of two commissioners, styled
"Gecommitteerden", and two councilors, called
"Gerechts-persoonen", or
"Schepenen". These last equated to our modern
justices of the peaceA justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice and deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
. There was also a colonial secretary, a "
Schout-fiscaal", or
sheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
, and a
"Greechts-bode", court messenger or constable.
The magistrates held their offices for a year, the court appointing their successors. The most important office in the colony was the schout-fiscaal, or sheriff. Jacob Albertsen Planck was the first sheriff of Rensselaerswyck. Arendt van Curler, who came out originally as assistant commissary, was soon after his arrival made commissary-general, or superintendent of the colony, and acted as colonial secretary until 1642, when he was succeeded by Anthony de Hooges.
Culture
The population of the colony of Rensselaerswyck in its early days consisted of three classes: freemen on top, who emigrated from Holland at their own expense; farmers next; and farm servants sent by the patroon at the bottom of the
casteA caste is a combined social system of occupation, endogamy, culture, social class, and political power. Caste should not be confused with class, in that members of a caste are deemed to be alike in function or culture, whereas not all members of a defined class may be so alike.Although Indian...
.
The first patroon judiciously applied his large resources to the advancement of his interests, and always was quick to assist his struggling people. To accomplish his purpose, several farms were set off by him on both sides of the river, on which he caused dwelling-houses, barns, and stables to be erected. The patroon, at his own expense, stocked these farms with cattle, horses, and sometimes with sheep, and furnished the necessary wagons, plows, and other implements. So the early farmer entered upon his land without being embarrassed by want of capital.
Sustaining the Manor
History is almost certain that Kiliaen van Rensselaer never actually visited his land in New Netherland. The
Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, a collection of translated primary documents from the time, state that, "The present letters show beyond the possibility of doubt that Kiliaen van Rensselaer did not visit his colony in person between 1630 and 1643, and the records preserved among the Rensselaerswyck manuscripts make it equally certain that he did not do so between the last named date and his death…" Upon van Rensselaer's death in the 1640s, the estate was passed on to his eldest son Jan Baptist, who acquired the title of patroon. He died in 1658 and his younger brother
Jeremias van RensselaerJeremias van Rensselaer was the third son of Kiliaen van Rensselear and the fourth patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck. He was the second son of Kiliean's second wife, Anna van Wley...
became patroon. Acknowledging the surrender of
New AmsterdamNew Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that later became the city now known as New York City.The town outside of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in the New Netherland territory which was situated between 38 and 42 degrees latitude of the Dutch Republic as of 1624...
and Fort Orange to England in 1664 following a surprise incursion by the English during a time of peace (which led to the Second Anglo–Dutch War), Jeremias took the oath of allegiance to the King of England that October. In 1666, he also built the original
Manor HouseA manor house or fortified manor-house is a country house, which has historically formed the administrative centre of a manor , the lowest unit of territorial organization in the feudal system...
, located north of Fort Orange, which was the
seatThe seat of government is defined by Brewer's Politics as "the building, complex of buildings or city from which a government exercises its authority". The seat of government is usually located in the capital. In some countries the seat of government differs from the capital, e.g...
of the patroonship and the home of the patroon until 1765.
Jeremias died in 1674 and the estate was passed on to his oldest son, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, grandson to the first patroon, who shared his name. At the time of his father's death, Kiliaen was eleven and did not acquire the title of Lord of the Manor until he was twenty-one. In 1683, one year before Kiliaen became Lord of the Manor, New York Governor
Thomas DonganThomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick , was the most personally popular colonial governor of New York and so is the colonial governor most admired by historians and contemporaries alike...
established
Albany CountyAlbany County is a county located in the state of New York, and is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The name is from the title of the Duke of York and Albany, who became James II of England. As of the 2000 census, the population was 294,565...
, one of the original twelve counties in New York. The county was to "containe the Towns of Albany, the Collony Renslaerwyck, Schonecteda, and all the villages, neighborhoods, and Christian Plantacons on the east side of Hudson River from Roelof Jansen's Creeke, and on the west side from Sawyer's Creeke to the Sarraghtoga." In 1685, Governor Dongan granted a patent for Rensselaerswyck, making it a legal entity. The patent included a detailed description of its boundaries, stating:
One year later in 1686, Albany was chartered as a city care of the Dongan Charter, authored by Governor Dongan. During Kiliaen's tenure as patroon, he served in many positions in Albany including assessor, justice, and supervisor, and represented Rensselaerswyck in the New York General Assembly. In 1704, Kiliaen split Rensselaerswyck into two portions, the southern portion, or "Lower Manor" (comprising Greenbush and Claverack), placed under the eye of Kiliaen's brother Hendrick. The northern portion retained the title Rensselaerswyck. Hendrick lived in Albany until a year after receiving the Lower Manor, representing Rensselaerswyck in the General Assembly from 1705 until 1715, just as his brother had from 1693 to 1704.
Kiliaen died in 1719 and the patroonship passed on to his oldest son Jeremias. Jeremias died in 1745 and the estate passed on to his brother Stephen. Stephen, sickly upon receiving the estate, died in 1747 at the age of forty. The estate was then passed on to his son, Stephen van Rensselaer II, who was five when his father died. Stephen II was active in the Albany County Militia and active in restructuring loose land leases created by his predecessors. One land deal made in the eastern region of Rensselaerswyck led to the name of the town
StephentownStephentown is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The population was 2,873 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Stephen Van Rensselaer. The town is in the southeast corner of the county...
in southeastern Rensselaer County. He also rebuilt the Manor House in 1765.
Stephen II died in 1769 at the age of 27 as one of the richest men in the region. The Manor passed on to his eldest son Stephen van Rensselaer III, who was five at the time of his father's death. The estate was controlled by
Abraham Ten BroeckAbraham Ten Broeck was a New York politician, businessman, and militia Brigadier General of Dutch descent. He was twice Mayor of Albany, New York and built one of the largest mansions in the area that still stands more than 200 years later.-Early life:Ten Broeck was the son of Dirck Ten Broeck...
until Stephen III's twenty-fifth birthday. Stephen III attended school in Albany and then
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
and
KingstonKingston is a city in Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany along the Hudson River. The population was 23,456 at the 2000 census...
during the Revolution. He graduated from
Harvard CollegeHarvard College is one of two undergraduate degree granting schools, and the oldest school, of Harvard University, a private university in the United States founded in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature...
in 1782. Stephen III is well known throughout history for many achievements. In 1825, he was elected
Grand MasterIn Freemasonry a Grand Master is the leader of the lodges within his Masonic jurisdiction. He presides over a Grand Lodge, and has certain rights in the constituent lodges that form his jurisdiction....
of the New York State
Grand Masonic LodgeA Grand Lodge, or "Grand Orient", is the usual governing body of "Craft", or "Blue Lodge", Freemasonry in a particular jurisdiction. The first Masonic Grand Lodge was established in England in 1717 as the Premier Grand Lodge of England....
. He was elected to the
New York State AssemblyThe New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
in 1789 and remained there until elected to the
New York State SenateThe New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...
in 1791. In 1795 he was elected
Lieutenant Governor of New YorkThe Lieutenant Governor of New York is the second highest ranking official in the government of New York. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four year term...
and he served in the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from 1822 to 1829. He was also commissioned a Lieutenant General in the New York State Militia, and led an unsuccessful invasion of
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
at Niagara in the war of 1812. His most lasting achievement was to found, with
Amos EatonAmos Eaton was a scientist and educator in the Troy, New York area.Eaton attended Williams College; after graduating in 1799 he studied law in New York City and was admitted to the state bar in 1802. He practiced law in Catskill, New York until 1810, when he was jailed on charges of forgery...
, the Rensselaer School, which developed into the present-day
Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteRensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI, is a private research university located in Troy, New York, United States.RPI was founded in 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer for the "application of science to the common purposes of life", and is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking...
.
Antirent movement and downfall
Stephen III lived to be 75, dying in 1839. He is remembered as "The Good Patroon" and also "The Last Patroon" because he was legally the last patroon of Rensselaerswyck. At the time of his death, Stephen III was worth about $10 million (about $88 billion in 2007 dollars) and is noted as being the tenth richest American in history.
The spectacle of a landed gentleman living in semi-feudal splendor among his three thousand tenants was an
anachronismAn anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος —is an error in chronology, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
to a generation which had become acclimated to
Jacksonian democracyJacksonian democracy is the political philosophy of United States President Andrew Jackson and his supporters. Jackson's policies followed the era of Jeffersonian democracy which dominated the previous political era...
. Stephen III's leniency toward his tenants created a serious problem for his heirs, who were instructed by his will to apply the back rents (approximately $400,000) toward the payment of the patroon's debts. As soon as the rent notices went out, the farmers organized committees and held public meetings in protest. Stephen IV, who had inherited the "West Manor" (Albany County), refused to meet with a committee of antirenters and turned down their written request for a reduction of rents. His brusque refusal infuriated the farmers. On July 4, 1839, a mass meeting at
BerneBerne is a town in Albany County, New York, United States. The population was 2,846 at the 2000 census. The town is at the west border of Albany County.- History :...
called for a declaration of independence from landlord rule but raised the amount the tenants were willing to pay.
The answer to this proposal was soon forthcoming. The executors of the estate secured writs of ejectment in suits against tenants in
arrearsArrears is a legal term for a type of debt which is overdue after missing an expected payment. It is also used for payments that occur at the end of a period....
. Crowds of angry tenants manhandled Sheriff Michael Archer and his assistants and turned back a posse of five hundred men. Sheriff Archer called upon Governor
William H. SewardWilliam Henry Seward, Sr. was a Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson...
for military assistance. Seward's proclamation calling on the people not to resist the enforcement of the law and the presence of several hundred militiamen overawed the tenants. The tenants, however, persisted in their refusal to pay rent. Of course the sheriff could and did evict a few, but he could not dispossess an entire township.
By 1844 the
antirent movementThe Anti-Rent War was a tenants' revolt in upstate New York during the early 19th century, beginning with the death of Stephen Van Rensselaer III in 1839.Van Rensselaer, who has been described as "[having] .....
had grown from a localized struggle against the van Rensselaer family to a full-fledged revolt against leasehold tenure throughout eastern New York. Virtual guerilla warfare broke out. Riders disguised as Indians and wearing calico gowns ranged through the countryside, terrorizing the agents of the landlords. In late 1844, Governor William Bouck sent three companies of militia to
HudsonHudson is a city located along the west border of Columbia County, New York, United States. The city is named after the adjacent Hudson River and ultimately after the explorer Henry Hudson.-Geography:...
, where antirenters threatened to storm the jail and release their leader, Big Thunder (Dr. Smith A. Boughton, in private life). The following year Governor
Silas WrightSilas Wright, Jr. was an American Democratic politician. Wright was born in Amherst, Massachusetts and moved with his father to Weybridge, Vermont in 1796. He graduated from Middlebury College in 1815 and moved to Sandy Hill, New York, the next year, where he studied law, being admitted to the bar...
was forced to proclaim
Delaware CountyDelaware County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of 2000 the population 48,055. The county seat is Delhi. It is named after the Delaware River, which was named in honor of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, appointed governor of Virginia in 1609.- History :When counties were...
in a state of insurrection after an armed rider had killed an undersheriff at an eviction sale.
The antirenters organized town, county, and state committees, published their own newspapers, held conventions, and elected their own spokesmen to the
legislatureThe New York Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. Under the New York State Constitution, there is no such thing as the "New York State Legislature"...
. The success of candidates endorsed by antirenters in 1845 caused politicians in both parties to show a "wonderful anxiety" to "give the Anti-renters all they ask." The legislature abolished the right of the landlord to seize the goods of a defaulting tenant and taxed the income which landlords derived from their rent. Shortly thereafter, the Constitutional Convention of 1846 prohibited any future lease of agricultural land which claimed rent or service for a period longer than twelve years. Yet neither the convention nor the state legislature was willing to disturb existing leases.
The antirenters played politics with remarkable success in the years between 1846 and 1851. They elected friendly sheriffs and local officials who virtually paralyzed the efforts of the landlords to collect rents. They cleverly threw their weight to the candidates of either major party who would support their cause. The bitter rivalries between and within the Whig and Democratic parties enabled the antirenters to exert more influence than their numbers warranted. As a result they had a small but determined bloc of antirent champions in the
AssemblyThe New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
and the
SenateThe New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...
who kept landlords uneasy by threatening to pass laws challenging land titles. The antirent endorsement of
John YoungJohn Young was an American politician.He was born in Chelsea, Vermont. As a child, he moved to Freeport , Livingston County, New York. He had only basic schooling but, by self-study accumulated a knowledge of classics and became a law clerk, becoming admitted to the bar in 1829...
, Whig candidate for governor in 1846, proved decisive. Governor Young promptly pardoned several antirent prisoners and called for an investigation of title by the Attorney General. The courts eventually ruled the statute of limitations prevented any questioning of the original titles. Declaring that the holders of perpetual leases were in reality freeholders, the Court of Appeals outlawed the "quarter sales," i.e., the requirement in many leases that a tenant who disposed of his farm should pay one-fourth of the money to the landlord.
Assailed by a concerted conspiracy not to pay rent and harassed by taxes and investigations of the Attorney General, the landed proprietors gradually sold out their interests. In August 1845, seventeen large landholders announced that they were willing to sell. Later that year, Steven IV agreed to sell his rights in the Helderberg townships. His brother, William, who had inherited the "East Manor" in Rensselaer County, also sold out his rights in over five hundred farms in 1848. Finally, in the 1850s, two speculators purchased the remaining leases from the van Rensselaers.
External links
- Rensselaerswijck at the Virtual Tour of New Netherland, New Netherland Project
The New Netherland Project was created to translate and publish 17th century Dutch documents from the period of the Dutch colonization of New Netherland...
of the New Netherland Institute
- Rensselaerswyck at the Colonial Albany Social History Project of the New York State Museum
The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol...
- This article incorporates text from History of Rensselaer Co., New York, by Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester (1880), a publication now in the public domain
The public domain is a range of abstract materials—commonly referred to as intellectual property—which are not owned or controlled by anyone. The term indicates that these materials are therefore "public property", and available for anyone to use for any purpose...
.