Alexander Hamilton’s Dutch in-laws held lots of land in
upstate New York. Much of it was rocky, heavily forested, and without roads.
Hamilton cooked up a way to improve and profit from this land without personal
expense. He helped the Van Rensselaers draw up leases binding tenants and
their descendants in perpetuity. The tenants were to clear, improve and work
the land, while paying steep rents (often more than their farms could produce).
If they were unable to pay in full, they were simply evicted without
compensation. If tenants sold their leases, they were to forfeit a quarter of
the sale price or an additional year’s rent. Often, the tenants were unable to
read the language in which their leases were written. After a conflict known as
“the second American revolution,” this sadistic feudal tenure system was
finally abolished. My point is, if you only know Hamilton from the musical, you
really don’t know Hamilton.
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