A downrenter's son

This novel presents a portrait of the Antirent War in the Hudson River Valley (1839-1846) that turned violent after thousands of tenant farmers began protesting the legacy of the Dutch patroonship system which had granted manorial rights over millions of acres of land to just a few rich hereditary landholders. Downrenters were those who refused to pay rent and held to the rights of the tenants to the land because they had occupied it for generations.