ANTIRENT AGITATION, in New York State. Although the manorial system of large landed estates with leasehold tenants dis appeared early in all other parts of the north ern States of the Union, it flourished vigorously along the Hudson and Mohawk until well into the 19th century. This was due probably to the high personal qualities and tenacious landlord ship of the Van Rensselaer and Livingston families, and the desire they inspired in others to become semi-feudal country gentlemen of the same stamp. The greatest of these holdings was the Van Rensselaer patroonship, called Rensselaerswick, derived from a Dutch grant confirmed by James II; originally comprising the entire counties of Albany, Rensselaer and Columbia,-20 miles on each side of the Hud son,— and to the last retaining many hun dreds of large farms in them. Almost as large was the "Livingston Manor," at one time hold ing 162,000 acres in Dutchess and Columbia counties. The extensive Hardenburgh Patent, dating from 1749, occupied large sections in Greene and Delaware counties; and there were many other considerable estates. The tendency in the vicinity of these great manors was not to sell farms, but lease them with feudal inci dents, in imitation of their great neighbors; so that in 8 or 10 of the east-central counties a large part of the land was in tenant farms, mingled with and surrounded by properties in fee. There were some very annoying provisions in some leases; one for giving the landlord a quarter of the proceeds of the sales of produce in case of alienation of the fee, making the land lord a partner with a one-fourth interest. In practice this provision was either not enforced or was commuted for a fraction of the value, and in the Hardenburgh Patent, where was the fiercest resistance and the most bloodshed, there was no such provision at all; but it served as a common grievance whether present or absent. Also rents were often in kind, fixed or shares, which is always fertile in heartburnings; many, however, had been commuted to money. But the actual grievances were slight, and the ten ants were probably better off in income than the owners in fee. In Rensselaerswick the first seven years of a lease were usually rent-free; on the Hardenburgh Patent five years, with the next five at half rent; and arrears and reserva tions were very laxly enforced, often not at all for years,— which was injudicious charity and produced the crisis, as enforcement of back dues meant being sold out and evicted, and agriculture is the one employment that will not endure that from private owners. The insecu rity of the old feudal tenures had been removed by the legislation of 1779 and 1789, which abolished them; and the new leases, though hav ing the same rentals and services, were in fee, so that raising of rent and confiscation of im provements were impossible. Further legisla tive regulation was attempted in 1812 to settle the respective rights of patroons and tenants; but the friction continued, and naturally involved all other land dealings,— contracts, mortgages, etc., having as ill an odor as leases. In 1836 a mob in Chautauqua County destroyed a land office with its records, on a rumor that the mortgages were to be foreclosed; and the same thing was only prevented at Batavia by an armed gathering of the townsmen. The mat ter was brought to a head by the death of Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer, the eighth patroon of Rensselaerswick. This fine old gentleman, who commanded at Queenstown Heights and founded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, died early in 1839, leaving over $200,000 of uncollected rents and any number of unenforced quarter-sales, and two heirs to whom he left his estates on the respective sides of the Hudson. These heirs undertook to collect the arrears and en force the rights left in abeyance; and the tenants formed associations to resist. The first to do so were those in the Helderberg Mountains, west of Albany (whence the dis turbance is sometimes called the Helderberg War) ; but those east of the Hudson in Rensse laer County outdid them by forming a mob in disguise and murdering a man. The counties were in open rebellion, and in December Gov. William H. Seward issued a proclamation against the rioters. The sheriff of Albany County with a posse several hundred strong was stopped by 1,500 armed men; a company of militia was called out, but was forced back by a gathering of nearly 1,000, and at last a body of about 1,000 militia had to be sent to Albany. The executions were finally levied, and on the 12th the soldiers were sent home. On the gov ernor's recommendation the legislature ap pointed a commission to report on a plan of ad justment; but as the only parties who wished the legal status quo changed were the tenants, the landlords considered the concessions to be all on their side and refused to listen to its recommendations. A stubborn resistance prac
tically nullified the collection of rents year after year. At length in 1844 the rebellion broke out with tenfold violence, in a general organization through Rensselaer, Schenectady, Columbia, Ot sego, Delaware, Ulster, Greene, Dutchess and other counties, against the payment of any rent whatever, and to compel the lords of the manor to sell their lands to the persons occupying them as tenants. The justifications legal and equi table may be surmised: that the landlords had no title, that the rent had been waived, that the payment of rent was against republican in stitutions, etc. A regular agrarian war was in stituted: the tenants, plus all the rabble who liked to commit outrage on any side, disguised themselves as Indians and began a reign of ter ror, flogging, tarring and feathering, boycotting and generally ill-using all who took leases, or in any way dealt with landlords. One laborer who had bought lumber from a leased farm and was taking it to market was shot dead by a mob in a struggle to take it from him. At length, on 7 Aug. 1845, a deputy sheriff of Delaware County was fatally shot by such a mob while serving a process; the extortion which called for this bloodshed was two years' back rent at $32 a year. These performances went on for months; Gov. Silas Wright, who in his message of 1845 had favored commutation of rents and ownership in fee though calling for sharp laws to punish outrages, now summoned a military force and sternly put down the re bellion. More than 50 convictions were ob tained, two of murder with sentence of death, which the governor commuted to imprisonment for life; but in his next year's message (1846) he recommended the abolition of distress for rent and the limitation of leases to 5 or 10 years. The constitutional convention of 1846 abolished feudal tenures and limited leases to 12 years. This was not at all what the Anti renters wanted, however, but abolition of rent altogether and proclamation of the lease holders as owners. Their cause had been an issue in State politics for years, fomented by agitators and newspapers; and the Whigs, see ing that they controlled the legislative delega tions of 11 counties, nominated for governor in 1846 their chief legislative champion, John Young, against Silas Wright, elected him by their aid, and he promptly pardoned all those who had been sentenced, pronouncing their of fenses °political.* He also recommended State suits against landlords to try titles. The Anti renters had `adopted* a part of the State ticket and not the rest, to show their strength, and polled about 5,00b votes; the next election (of 1848) they did the same: and the legislature, alive to the value of this body of votes, directed the attorney-general to bring a test suit against Harmon Livingston. The decision in Novem ber 1850 was for Livingston; but the nearly 12-years struggle and ruin of property val ues had wearied the landlords, and the decent tenants were perhaps ashamed of their breach of contract. The former offered to sell the farms, and the latter were willing to buy; and the great patroonship and patents were rapidly broken up. Meantime there was a mass of private litigation, and several cases went up to the Court of Appeals; which in October 1852 declared that without reference to the Consti tution of 1846, agreements in restraint of alien ation of titles in fee, and therefore reservations of quarter-sales, were void. As this left the landlords no right which could oppress the ten ants, and the latter nothing to oppose except a payment of honest debts, the Antirent agita tion passed out of sight as a dignified political entity. But the spirit was not quite dead. As late as July 1866 an antirent riot broke out in Knox, Albany County, which had to be sup pressed by the militia. The next month a land owner's agent in Berne was fired at and his horses were shot. These, however, were be lated estrays: for a generation land contracts have been on a footing with all others. Con sult Alexander,
History of the State of New York' (Vol. II, New York 1906) •, Jay Gould, (History of Delaware County' (1856) ; Roberts,