Manor of Rensselaerswyck - Establishing Patroonships

Establishing Patroonships

Upon discovery of the Albany area by Henry Hudson in 1609, the Dutch claimed the area as their own and set up two forts: Fort Nassau in 1614 and Fort Orange in 1624, both named for the Dutch noble House of Orange-Nassau. This established a Dutch presence in the area, formally called New Netherland. In June 1620, the Dutch West India Company was established by the States-General and given enormous powers. In the name of the States-General, it had the authority to make contracts and alliances with princes and natives, build forts, administer justice, appoint and discharge governors, soldiers, and public officers, and promote trade in New Netherland.

In 1630, the managers of the West India Company, in order to tempt the ambition of capitalists, offered certain exclusive privileges to the members of the company. The terms of the charter stated that any member who founded a colony of fifty adults in New Netherland within four years of the charter's writing would be acknowledged as a patroon (feudal chief) of the territory to be colonized. The only restriction was that the colony had to be outside the island of Manhattan.

To meet such cases, the West India Company adopted the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions for the agricultural colonization of its American province. The chief features of this charter stated that lands for each colony could extend 16 miles (26 km) in length if confined to one side of a navigable river or 8 miles (13 km) if both sides were occupied. Additionally, the lands could extend into the countryside and even be enlarged if more immigrants were to settle there.

Each patroon would have the chief command within their respective patroonship, having the sole rights to fish and hunt. If a city were to be founded within its boundaries, the patroon would have the power and authority to establish officers and magistrates. Each patroonship was free of taxes and tariffs for ten years following its founding.

The patroonships were precisely feudal: no colonists of a patroonship could leave the colony during their term of service without the written consent of the patroon, and the West India Company pledged itself to do everything in its power to apprehend and deliver up all fugitives from the patroon's service.

Colonists of a patroonship were limited by the West India Company in some instances. For example, trading of furs was illegal for colonists; it was reserved for the Company. But, patroonships had the right to trade anywhere from Newfoundland to Florida, on the understanding that traders were to stop at Manhattan to possibly trade with Holland first.

Each patroon was required to "satisfy the Indians of that place for the land", essentially implying that the land must be bought (or bartered) from the local Indians, and not just taken. Additionally, the Company agreed to defend all colonists, whether free or in service, from all aggressors, and even supply the patroonship—for free—"with as many blacks as it possibly can... for longer time than it shall see fit".