Land and Liberty: Hudson Valley Riots in the Age of Revolution

Beginning in the 1750s, a series of riots rippled through the Hudson Valley. Tenants rose in protest against landlords who not only collectively controlled 2.5 million acres of the best soil but who also, in many cases, owned the local stores where tenants bought supplies and the mills where they ground their grain. Locked into this cycle of dependence and facing inflated real estate prices, tenants had little hope of purchasing farms. Consequently, they resorted to varied strategies of rebel…