Conceived in Liberty Volume 2 - Ludwig von Mises Institute

terity that their children may reap the benefit of their labor and industry."
And Chief Justice Lewis Morris deplored the "engrossing of great tracts of
land into few hands," making it very difficult and expensive to settle these
lands. In contrast, better and far cheaper lands were available in New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, which were thus attracting far more immigrants.
Despite these warnings, the venal policy of land engrossment continued
apace. Governor George Clarke (1736-43), for example, evaded the maximum
limit of 2,000 acres per grant by giving himself land through dummy
associates. Thus, Clarke granted William Corry 100,000 acres in the Mohawk
Valley, which Corry promptly transferred back to Clarke's personal ownership.
In this way, Clarke was able to amass a fortune of 100,000 pounds'
worth of land during his term of office. Clarke's successor in the lucrative
post, George Clinton (1743-53), also granted much land to himself through
numerous dummy intermediaries. For grants to others, Clinton charged the
high fee of thirteen pounds for each 1,000 acres given away. Through such
means, Clinton was able to amass a fortune of 100,000 pounds in his decade
of rule.
As the eighteenth century wore on, the discontent of the tenants increased,
along with the extent of manorial landholdings. The farmers—significantly,
generally referred to by the European name "peasants"—were subjected not
only to rent payments, but also to juries constituted by the manor lord, as well
as to various feudal fees and privileges. Unable to purchase their land, the
farmers also faced insecurity of renewal of lease, and the increasing rents of
any new lease ate into any farm prosperity they might have enjoyed. The
farmers had therefore little incentive to improve the land, since they would
only in the end have to pay more rent to the manor lord. Furthermore, the
large feudal manors enjoyed their own direct representation in the provincial
Assembly, with their own private "rotten boroughs."
In addition to these numerous privileges, the New York government
propped up the feudal manors in other significant ways. For one thing, New
York did not adopt the significant English common-law realization that the
mortgager is the true owner of the land; failure to do this preserved New
York landlords from any compulsion to yield property to their creditors in
case they could not pay. Also, New York established an elaborate system of
registry of land titles, which, being costly, favored the large and wealthy landlords
who could pay the expenses of registry and of hiring lawyers to do the
job. And, finally, feudal entail and primogeniture were imposed to keep the
huge manors intact and to prevent them from being divided. Thus, Frederick
Philipse, one of the great manorial lords of New York, made a will in 1751
compulsorily entailing all his land to his firstborn and then to the latter's firstborn,
etc., forever.
The dominant manors of New York in the eighteenth century were those
of Livingston, Philipse, Van Rensselaer, and Van Cortlandt. The Philipse
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