The Anti-Rent Era in New York Law and Politics, 1839-1865 (Studies in Legal History) - Softcover

McCurdy, Charles W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807857653 ISBN 13: 9780807857656

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2006

Synopsis

A compelling blend of legal and political history, this book chronicles the largest tenant rebellion in U.S. history. From its beginning in the rural villages of eastern New York in 1839 until its collapse in 1865, the Anti-Rent movement impelled the state's governors, legislators, judges, and journalists, as well as delegates to New York's bellwether constitutional convention of 1846, to wrestle with two difficult problems of social policy. One was how to put down violent tenant resistance to the enforcement of landlord property and contract rights. The second was how to abolish the archaic form of land tenure at the root of the rent strike.

Charles McCurdy considers the public debate on these questions from a fresh perspective. Instead of treating law and politics as dependent variables--as mirrors of social interests or accelerators of social change--he highlights the manifold ways in which law and politics shaped both the pattern of Anti-Rent violence and the drive for land reform. In the process, he provides a major reinterpretation of the ideas and institutions that diminished the promise of American democracy in the supposed "golden age" of American law and politics.

About this title

Book Description:

"With the acute understanding of a veteran legal historian, McCurdy dissects the arguments and strategies of the chief protagonists in the conflict, proceeding carefully through the legislature, press, a constitutional convention, and relevant court decisions. His ability to clarify complex issues and decode devious stratagems is impressive. . . . [This] study opens up vistas showing the manifold ways in which politicians/lawyers shaped the possibilities for democratic reform."-- Choice

From the Inside Flap:

Blending legal and political history, this book examines the the N.Y. tenant rebellion of 1939-1865, the largest rent strike in U.S. history.

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0807857653
• ISBN 13: 9780807857656
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 424