Raynor HCA 2013-01
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/10/2013
Broadside, “To the Electors of the State of New York,” one page, 9" x 16", March 3, 1801, Albany, addressed to "Fellow Citizens!". “The period for which our present Chief Magistrate was elected to office being nearly expired and he having signified his intention to retire to private life, it will soon become necessary for the citizens of this state... to provide a successor to that important station... we the General Committee of the citizens of Albany... respectfully recommend... and support Stephen Van Rensselaer... " With a lengthy endorsement of Van Rensselaer's reputation and character. Stephen Van Rensselaer III (1764-1839) was Lieutenant Governor of New York as well as a statesman, soldier, and land-owner, the heir to one of the greatest estates in the New York region at the time. He was the father of Henry Bell Van Rensselaer, who was a politician and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. His younger brother Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer 1767-1824 was Mayor of Albany, New York 1799-1812. Van Rensselaer was born in New York City, the eldest child of Stephen Van Rensselaer II (a great-grandson of Mayor of New York Stephanus Van Cortlandt) and Catharina Livingston (daughter of Philip Livingston). His family was very wealthy, and the van Rensselaer Manor House was a rich childhood environment for the young boy to grow up in. However, his father died in 1769, when van Rensselaer was only five, and the heir to his father's estate. Van Rensselaer was raised by his uncle, Abraham Ten Broeck, who administered the Van Rensselaer estate after van Rensselaer II's untimely death. To this end he was sent off to school, and in 1782, van Rensselaer graduated from Harvard University. One year later, he married Margarita Schuyler, the daughter of renowned Revolutionary War general Philip Schuyler. Van Rensselaer was only nineteen years old, but Margarita's death in 1801 would cause him to enter into his second marriage one year later with Cornelia Paterson, daughter of former New Jersey Governor William Paterson. On his 21st birthday, van Rensselaer took possession of his family's prestigious estate, close to 1,200 square miles (31,000 km²) in size, named Rensselaerswyck, and began a long tenure as lord of his family's manor. Van Rensselaer desired to make money off of the land that was suddenly his, but was extremely reluctant to sell it off. Instead, he granted tenants perpetual leases at moderate rates, which saved would-be landholders from having to pay all of their money up front. This meant that they could invest more in their operations, which led to increased productivity in the area. Over time, van Rensselaer would become landlord over 3,000 tenants, and proved a lenient and benevolent landowner. His tenants, who did not have to work in fear of sudden foreclosure or unfair treatment, were able to focus on their work, and the productivity Van Rensselaer created benefited the entire Albany area. Van Rensselaer also spent a great deal of time in political pursuits, it is said more out of a sense of duty than of ambition. He served in the New York State Assembly from 1789 to 1791 and the New York State Senate from 1791 to 1796, being named Lieutenant Governor of the state in 1795. van Rensselaer, over his time in politics, acquired a reputation as something of a reformer, voting in favour of extending the suffrage and going against much of New York's upper class in doing so. Very fine.
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