Anti-Rent War
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The Anti-Rent War (also known as the Helderberg 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.
Stephen, who has been described as "[having] ... proved a lenient and benevolent landowner" was the patroon of the region at the time, and was a direct descendant of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, the first patroon. The patroons owned all the land on which the tenants in the Hudson Valley lived, and used feudal leases to maintain control of the region.
Before the Revolutionary War, the patroons acted as feudal lords, with the right to make laws. 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.
[edit] Further reading
- "New York's Anti-rent War 1845-1846," Contemporary Review, June 2002 by Eric Ford
- The Antirenter Party
- Henry Christman, Tin Horns and Calico, a Decisive Episode in the Emergence of Democracy (1978) ISBN 0-685-61130-2
- Dorothy Kubik, A Free Soil - A Free People: The Anti-Rent War in Delaware County, New York (1997) ISBN 0-935796-86-X
- Charles W. McCurdy, The Anti-Rent Era in New York Law and Politics, 1839-1865 (2001) ISBN 0-8078-2590-5
- Candace Christiansen, Calico and Tin Horns (1992) ISBN 0-8037-1179-4
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