Anti-Rent War | |||||||
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![]() Poster announcing an Anti-Rent meeting in the town of Nassau, New York | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Tenants | Patroons State of New York | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Smith A. Boughton | Stephen Van Rensselaer William L. Marcy John Van Buren Gov. William H. Seward | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
25,000 - 60,000 [1] tenants | ㅤ |
The Anti-Rent War (also known as the Helderberg War) was a tenants' revolt in upstate New York between 1839 and 1845. The Anti-Renters declared their independence from the manor system run by patroons, resisting tax collectors and successfully demanding land reform. The conflict resulted in the passage of laws that made feudal tenures illegal and outlawed leases greater than 12 years. [2]
The incident began with the death of Stephen Van Rensselaer III in 1839. [3] Van Rensselaer, who was described as a "lenient and benevolent landowner" was the patroon of the region at the time. [4] As a way to develop his vast landholdings, Van Rensselaer granted tenants lifetime leases at moderate prices. [5]
During his life, when tenants were in financial constraints, he preferred to accept rent in the form of goods and services in lieu of cash, allow rents to accumulate, or accept partial payment rather than evict them. [5] However, his leases also included a "quarter-sale" provision, which required tenants who sold their leases to pay Van Rensselaer one fourth of the sale price or one additional year's rent. [5] The patroons owned all the land on which the tenants in the Hudson Valley lived, and used this feudal lease system to maintain control of the region. [5]
When he died, his wealth had been reduced in the economic downturn known as the Panic of 1837, [6] so Van Rensselaer's will directed his heirs to collect outstanding rents and quarter-sale payments to apply to his estate's debts. [6] When the heirs attempted to collect, tenants who believed their debts would be forgiven at Van Renselaer's death could not pay the amounts demanded, could not secure a favorable payment schedule from the heirs, and could not obtain relief in the courts, so they revolted. [5] [6]
The first mass meeting of tenant farmers leading to the Anti-Rent War was held at the top of the Helderberg mountains in Berne, New York on July 4, 1839. They issued a declaration of independence, promising: "We will take up the ball of the Revolution where our fathers stopped it and roll it to the final consummation of freedom and independence of the masses." [2] Among their tactics was the rent strike, with tenants refusing to pay on their leases unless Van Rensselaer's heirs and the other patroons agreed to a negotiated settlement. [7]
In December 1839 the Anti-Renters repulsed a 500-man posse led by Albany County sheriff Michael Artcher and including William Marcy and John Van Buren. Governor William Seward threatened the rebels with 700 militiamen and obtained their surrender. However, an insurrection continued to smolder. Disguised "Calico Indians" resisted eviction, tax collection, and law enforcement, sometimes tarring and feathering their enemies. [2] [8]
The conflict gained the support of somewhere between 25,000 and 60,000 of the approximately 300,000 tenants in the patroon system. [9] [10] In January 1845, one hundred and fifty delegates from eleven counties assembled at St. Paul's Lutheran Church [11] in Berne to call for political action to redress their grievances. [12]
The Anti-Rent War led to the creation of the Antirenter Party, which had a strong influence on New York State politics from 1846 to 1851. [13] Newly elected governor Silas Wright moved in 1845 to stamp out the Calico Indians, and pushed for a law which outlawed disguises. [8]
Trials of leaders of the revolt, charged with riot, conspiracy and robbery, were held in 1845 with Amasa J. Parker presiding. Attorneys included Ambrose L. Jordan, as leading counsel for the defense, and John Van Buren, the state attorney general, who personally conducted the prosecution. At the first trial, the jury came to no conclusion and Parker declared a mistrial. [14] During a re-trial in September 1845, the two attorneys started a fistfight in open court. Both were sentenced by the presiding judge, John W. Edmonds, to "solitary confinement in the county jail for 24 hours." At the conclusion of the trial, one defendant, Smith A. Boughton, was sentenced to life imprisonment. After the election of John Young as governor with the support of the Anti-Renters, he pardoned Boughton. [15]
John Van Steenburgh and Edward O'Connor were sentenced to death by hanging for their involvement in the shooting of Undersheriff Osman Steele, an incident that took place at Moses Earle's farm in Andes, New York during a sheriff's sale after Earle was unable to pay his rent. [16] Earle and two others were sentenced to life in prison. [16] Several others received lesser prison sentences. [16] Governor Young later commuted the death sentences to life in prison. [16]
The New York Constitution of 1846 added provisions for tenants' rights, abolishing feudal tenures and outlawing leases lasting longer than twelve years. [2] [8] The remaining manors dissolved quickly as the patroons sold off the lands. [2]
Berne is a town in Albany County, New York, United States. The population was 2,689 at the 2020 census. The town is at the western border of Albany County.
East Greenbush is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of Albany. The population was 16,748 at the 2020 census. The word Greenbush is derived from the Dutch het groen bosch, referring to the pine woods that originally covered the land. The first settlement of the land now known as East Greenbush was made by tenants under patroon Kiliaen van Rensselaer circa 1630. The town was established in 1855 as Clinton, and was renamed in 1858. It is mostly suburban along its major highways and rural in the southwestern and northeastern corners.
Stephen Van Rensselaer III was an American landowner, businessman, militia officer, and politician. A graduate of Harvard College, at age 21, Van Rensselaer took control of Rensselaerswyck, his family's manor. He developed the land by encouraging tenants to settle it and granting them perpetual leases at moderate rates, which enabled the tenants to use more of their capital to make their farms and businesses productive.
William Christian Bouck was an American politician from New York. He was the 13th Governor of New York, from 1843 to 1844.
Kiliaen van Rensselaer was a Dutch diamond and pearl merchant from Amsterdam who was one of the founders and directors of the Dutch West India Company, being instrumental in the establishment of New Netherland.
Henry Bell Van Rensselaer was an American military officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and a politician who served in the United States Congress as a Representative from the state of New York.
In the United States, a patroon was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th-century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions of 1629, the Dutch West India Company first started to grant this title and land to some of its invested members. These inducements to foster colonization and settlement are the basis for the patroon system. By the end of the 18th century, virtually all of the American states had abolished primogeniture and entail; thus patroons and manors evolved into simply large estates subject to division and leases.
Rensselaerswyck was a Dutch colonial patroonship and later an English manor owned by the van Rensselaer family located in the present-day Capital District of New York in the United States.
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The 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 supplied by members of the West India Company. Its 31 articles establish ground rules and expectations of the patroons and inhabitants of the new colonies. It was ratified by the Dutch States-General on June 7, 1629.
Patroon Agent's House and Office, also known as the Casparus Pruyn House and Office or Whish-Hull House and H. V. Rector office, is a historic home and office located on the Hudson River at Rensselaer in Rensselaer County, New York. It was built and first occupied Nov. 29, 1839 and consists of a 2+1⁄2-story rectangular brick residence with an attached 1-story rectangular brick office in the Greek Revival style. It was built by the Van Rensselaer family as a home and office for Casparus F. Pruyn, rent collection agent for William Van Rensselaer who had inherited the "East Manor" in 1839, consisting of Rensselaer County from his father Stephen. Today, the Patroon Agent would be considered the Chief Operating Officer of a corporation; also, several other Patroon Agent Houses have been located in and around Albany over the 200+ years of the patroonship.
The Craver Farmstead was established circa 1790 consisting of 225 acres with a farmhouse and a barn. Today, the Craver Farmstead is both architecturally and historically significant. The farmhouse was built prior to 1790 and stands as one of the oldest and best preserved examples of Federal-style architecture in upstate New York. The Federal style evolved as the dominant classicizing architecture in North America between 1780 and 1830 as the new republic of the United States sought to define itself as independent in literature, art, and architecture just as it was politically.
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The Van Rensselaer family is a family of Dutch descent that was prominent during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries in the area now known as the state of New York. Members of this family played a critical role in the formation of the United States and served as leaders in business, politics and society.
Stephen Van Rensselaer, known as the "Young Patroon" and sometimes the "last of the patroons" was the last patroon of Rensselaerswyck.
Smith A. Boughton was an American physician and political activist. Nicknamed "Big Thunder", he was best known as one of the leaders of upstate New York's Anti-Rent War in the 1830s and 1840s.
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It was a bittersweet occasion for Lawrence Van Deusen, president of the Anti-Rent Association of Albany County. Van Deusen took pride in the unity and staying power of his fellow tenants since 1839, when Stephen Van Rensselaer IV ...