WEBVTT NOTE 38. Rebellion at Livingston Manor 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 Vime 4, Chapter 38, Rebellion at Livingston Manor 2 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:17.000 While Burgoyne was preparing his fateful expedition, the oppressed tenants of Livingston Manor, in upstate New York, decided to take a hand in the struggle. 3 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:24.000 To the downtrodden victims of the New York landed oligarchy, the issues of the war seemed remote. 4 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:32.000 The important issue was gaining ownership of the land they had tilled and brought into productive use. 5 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:40.000 If their landlords happened to be Whigs, as were the Livingstons, leaders of the conservative rebel faction, 6 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:45.000 then the tenants naturally and understandably became Tories. 7 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:51.000 For them, only victory of British arms might bring the ownership of their lands. 8 00:00:51.000 --> 00:01:15.000 The Livingston Manor occupied the east bank of the Hudson, south of Albany, now Columbia County, from the outbreak of the Revolution, tenant unrest, which had erupted during the General Tenant's Rebellion of 1766, was renewed throughout the 160,000 acres of Livingston Manor. 9 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:37.000 As leaders of Revolutionary New York, the Livingstons kept a tight control over the Manor Committee of Safety. Like parish vestries in the South, the Manor Committee was a self-perpetuating oligarchy, despite formal adherence to democratic regulations, such as annual elections by the inhabitants of the Manor. 10 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:53.000 By the fall of 1776, unrest on the manor was becoming grave, and was being aggravated by conscription into militia preparing to fight in their landlord's battles against Burgoyne. 11 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:58.960 Indeed, Henry Livingston, commander of the Regiment of Manor Militia, refused to march 12 00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:04.500 north against Burgoyne, for most of the men would simply refuse to march, and the order 13 00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:10.040 would probably provoke an uprising against the Manor Committee. 14 00:02:10.040 --> 00:02:16.360 Many tenants were reported hiding in the woods, and one magnificently independent tenant, 15 00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:22.160 Jerry Wheeler, warned the Manor Committee that if he had to go to the army, the first 16 00:02:22.160 --> 00:02:25.160 The first person he would shoot would be his captain. 17 00:02:25.160 --> 00:02:34.160 By October 1776, a number of discontented tenants had gathered in the southeast corner of Livingston Manor, 18 00:02:34.160 --> 00:02:40.160 and several signed a King's Book, pledging that they would fight for King George. 19 00:02:40.160 --> 00:02:45.160 Tenants were also restive on other estates of Whig-landed monopolists. 20 00:02:45.160 --> 00:02:53.160 In the late autumn of 1776, 400 tenants rose in arms against the Lord of Rensselaerwick. 21 00:02:53.160 --> 00:03:00.880 By April of 1777, a great increase of Toryism around Albany led to massive desertions of 22 00:03:00.880 --> 00:03:08.720 militia and an attack on the Albany jail by 700 men to free captured deserters. 23 00:03:08.720 --> 00:03:15.080 The intelligent path for the rebellious tenants would have been to hold off any uprising until 24 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:27.080 Until Burgoyne had reached the area of Albany, that is, until the fall of 1777. If they had waited, they might well have turned the tide. 25 00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:40.080 But in those days, information was particularly faulty. They acted in May 1777 on the false belief that British troops were already in the vicinity. 26 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:55.080 Consequently, the tenants made two fatal mistakes. They rose much too early, and once having risen, they failed to bring their full force to bear, expecting as they did British help at any moment. 27 00:03:55.080 --> 00:04:05.080 In addition, in their spontaneous action, they lacked the leadership necessary to guide and give intelligent direction to their uprising. 28 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:10.080 Even so, the underground tenant organization was skilled and elaborate. 29 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:16.080 Almost every tenant was included in the conspiracy, which was centered in the eastern part of the manor. 30 00:04:16.080 --> 00:04:24.080 Active in the rebellion were 400 tenants of Livingston Manor, 60 tenants of the lower manor to the south, 31 00:04:24.080 --> 00:04:29.080 and 50 non-tenant farmers and militiamen of the manor. 32 00:04:29.080 --> 00:04:34.080 Their goal was ownership of the land, which they believed rightfully theirs. 33 00:04:34.080 --> 00:04:41.080 The Livingston Tenant Rebellion, taking place during the first week of May, was precipitated by the arrival of outside militia escorting tenant prisoners. 34 00:04:55.080 --> 00:05:02.080 A series of tenant skirmishes ensued. Several hundred militiamen from outside, headed by landed oligarchs John P. Livingston and Roger Garrison, 35 00:05:04.080 --> 00:05:10.620 Robert van Rensselaer were brought in to suppress the tenants and viciously ordered to fire 36 00:05:10.620 --> 00:05:14.220 upon every man fleeing before them. 37 00:05:14.220 --> 00:05:21.140 On May 5, the hapless tenants, facing superior arms, offered to surrender in exchange for 38 00:05:21.140 --> 00:05:24.780 a guarantee against retribution. 39 00:05:24.780 --> 00:05:30.240 The offer was brusquely spurned, and the tenant uprising ruthlessly suppressed. 40 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:35.020 Most tenants were killed in the fighting, and perhaps a dozen tenants were executed 41 00:05:35.020 --> 00:05:37.800 for their part in the rising. 42 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:42.480 Over 300 tenant prisoners were dispersed outside the manor. 43 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:48.580 A few were held hostage, while the suitably penitent were set free after swearing a loyalty 44 00:05:48.580 --> 00:05:51.060 oath to the revolution. 45 00:05:51.060 --> 00:05:56.940 This uncharacteristically gentle treatment of the rebels was due to shock and bewilderment 46 00:05:56.940 --> 00:06:02.140 among the Livingstons, who were afraid of further uprisings, especially with Burgoyne 47 00:06:02.140 --> 00:06:04.180 drawing near. 48 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:11.260 There were, it is true, no further uprisings among the tenetry, but their sullen toriism, 49 00:06:11.260 --> 00:06:14.620 or rather anti-wigery, continued. 50 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:20.540 By the fall, the tenants were already repudiating the oaths of loyalty they had been forced 51 00:06:20.540 --> 00:06:28.180 to take in May, and nearly 70 Livingston tenants left to join Burgoyne's army. 52 00:06:28.180 --> 00:06:34.300 Even after Burgoyne's defeat, widespread desertions and draft dodging continued on Livingston 53 00:06:34.300 --> 00:06:35.300 Manor. 54 00:06:35.300 --> 00:06:40.780 The tenants were not able to win their land, but they did accomplish one thing by their 55 00:06:40.780 --> 00:06:42.540 uprising. 56 00:06:42.540 --> 00:06:48.400 Never again would they be treated like cattle by their landlords, and never would their 57 00:06:48.400 --> 00:06:51.400 May their votes be simply taken for granted.