Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions
Encyclopedia
The Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions, sometimes referred to as the Charter of Privileges and Exemptions, is a document written by the Dutch West India Company
in an effort to settle its colony
of New Netherland
in North America
through the establishment of feudal patroonships purchased and supplied by members of the West India Company. Its 31 articles establish ground rules and expectations of the patroons and inhabitants of the new colonies. It was ratified by the Dutch
States-General
on June 7, 1629.
, with colonization being only a secondary consideration. Noting that the capture of the silver fleet
in 1628 left the company proceeds of $115,000,000, and that the next year sundry privateers brought in a bounty of over $18,000,000, it was hardly surprising that so little attention was paid to the settlements in the Hudson River Valley
. Those were "get rich quick" days for large corporations, and the slow and tedious procedure of colonizing and cultivating new countries found little favor in the eyes of the men at the helm.
". In 1629, the West India Company issued its charter of "Freedoms and Exemptions" by which it was declared that any member of the Company who could bring to and settle 50 persons over the age of 15 in New Netherland, should receive a liberal grant of land to hold as patroon, or lord, with the exception, per Article III, of the island of Manhattan
. This land could have a frontage of 16 miles (25.7 km) if on one side of a river, or 8 miles (12.9 km) if situated on both sides. The patroon would be chief magistrate
on his land, but disputes of more than 50 guilder
s could be appealed to the Director and his Council in New Amsterdam
.
The tenants would be free from all taxation for 10 years, but during this period they would not be allowed to change from one estate to another nor to move from the country to the town. At least one quarter of the 50 inhabitants would have to be settled within the first year of the land grant, with the rest being settled within three years following that. The patroons would have full liberty to purchase goods in New Netherland, New England
, and New France
, with the exception of furs. But the trader would have to pay an export tax of five per cent in New Amsterdam before goods could be shipped to Europe
. The fur trade remained a monopoly of the Company, being the most profitable investment at the time. The weaving of cloth was also prohibited in order to supply the looms in Holland with their needed raw supplies.
The patroon would be responsible for the expenses in erecting barns and other structures and preparing land for farming in addition to supplying the initial farming tools, vehicles, and livestock. However, each tenant would be due to pay a stipulated rent in addition to a percentage of that which they produced. Additionally, no farmer could sell any good without first offering it to patroon. The patroon also bore responsibility of hiring a minister and schoolmaster, as well as financing the respective structures when they became needed. Once the patroonship became a profitable enterprise, the patroon was expected to share net profits with the tenants.
There are some notable aspects of the charter, which, while aiming to make the West India Company wealthy and successful, offered great incentives to the patroons and respect to the indigenous peoples. For example, Article XXVI states that the patroon "must satisfy the Indians of that place for the land", essentially implying that the land must be bought (or barter
ed) from the local Indians, and not just taken. Article VI states that the patroon "shall forever own and possess and hold from the Company as a perpetual fief of inheritance, all the land lying within the aforesaid limits", which made the patroonship a fiefdom
. It shall be seen later that one patroonship would last well into the 19th century. Additionally, the Company agreed to protect the patroonships from attack (Article XXV), and even supply the patroonship—for free—"with as many blacks
as it possibly can ... for [no] longer [a] time than it shall see fit" (Article XXX).
The earliest venture to explore New Netherland for future colonization by a potential patroon was upon notification to the Directors on January 13, 1629 that Samuel Godyn, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, and Samuel Blommaert
had sent Gillis Houset and Jacob Jansz Cuyper to determine satisfactory locations for settlement. This took place before the Charter was ratified, but was done in agreement with a draft of the Charter from March 28, 1628.
Upon ratification of the charter on June 7, 1629, Michael Pauw
informed the Directors of his intention to settle along the "Sickenames River", a stream east of the Connecticut River
. On June 19, Samuel Godyn declared his intention to settle "the bay of the South River", the current day Delaware Bay
, naming the settlement Zwaanendael. After the settlement had been in existence for only a short while, the colonists—32 in number—were murdered by the local Indians
. Godyn sold his holdings back to the West India Company.
Patroonships were not limited to the area of the northeastern United States
. On October 15, Michael Pauw made his intention known to settle the islands of Fernando de Noronha
, located off the Brazil
ian coast. Likewise on October 22, Albertus Conradus declared himself patroon of the island of Saint Vincent
. On November 1, Conradus also registered as patroon of the east side of South Bay
, that which had not been taken by Samuel Godyn on June 19. It was abandoned and no colony was actually established.
On November 16, 1629, Samuel Blommaert declared himself patroon of the Fresh River presumedly adjoining the one to the east on the Sickenames River previously registered by Michael Pauw. No colony was ever established and the patroonship was eventually abandoned. On January 10, 1630, Pauw declared himself patroon of an area along the southern end of the North River, including land on the present site of Jersey City, and Staten Island
, so called in honor of the "Staten", or States General. The patroonship was called Pavonia
. The enterprise however, was not a financial success and he finally sold his holdings to the West India Company.
The most successful of the settlements started under the patroonship charter was on the upper Hudson River
by Kiliaen van Rensselaer, an Amsterdam
jeweler and member of the Chamber of Amsterdam. Van Rensselaer declared his intentions of settling a patroonship on November 19, 1629. From the Mahicans he purchased a plot of land now represented by Albany
and Rensselaer counties, which he called Rensselaerswyck and to which he brought several families from the town of Nijkerk
, the place of his birth. Rensselaerswyck would stay in the van Rensselaer family until its dissolution during the Anti-Rent War
in the 1840s, with its last patroon, Stephen van Rensselaer III
dying a very rich man. To this day, he is listed as the tenth richest American in history, having been worth about $10 million (about $88 billion in 2007 dollars).
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
in an effort to settle its colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
of New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
through the establishment of feudal patroonships purchased and supplied by members of the West India Company. Its 31 articles establish ground rules and expectations of the patroons and inhabitants of the new colonies. It was ratified by the Dutch
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
States-General
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
on June 7, 1629.
Background
The economic situation of the colony of New Netherland in the late 1620s could be considered a fairly good showing for a colony only newly started in a wilderness. The first settlement was built in 1613, strictly out of necessity, but soon after, forts were built. At the time of the charter, the oldest settlement was only 16 years old. But this slow success was hardly sufficient to create much excitement among the directors of the West India Company. The principal objective of this organization was to go after the spoils of war, which promised rich harvests in the captured fleets of the SpanishSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, with colonization being only a secondary consideration. Noting that the capture of the silver fleet
Spanish treasure fleet
The Spanish treasure fleets was a convoy system adopted by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to 1790...
in 1628 left the company proceeds of $115,000,000, and that the next year sundry privateers brought in a bounty of over $18,000,000, it was hardly surprising that so little attention was paid to the settlements in the Hudson River Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
. Those were "get rich quick" days for large corporations, and the slow and tedious procedure of colonizing and cultivating new countries found little favor in the eyes of the men at the helm.
The Charter
The realization that greater inducements had to be offered to increase the development of the colony led the West India Company to the creation of the so-called "patroon systemPatroon
In the United States, a patroon was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland in North America...
". In 1629, the West India Company issued its charter of "Freedoms and Exemptions" by which it was declared that any member of the Company who could bring to and settle 50 persons over the age of 15 in New Netherland, should receive a liberal grant of land to hold as patroon, or lord, with the exception, per Article III, of the island of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. This land could have a frontage of 16 miles (25.7 km) if on one side of a river, or 8 miles (12.9 km) if situated on both sides. The patroon would be chief magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
on his land, but disputes of more than 50 guilder
Guilder
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch gulden — from Old Dutch for 'golden'. The guilder originated as a gold coin but has been a common name for a silver or base metal coin for some centuries...
s could be appealed to the Director and his Council in New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
.
The tenants would be free from all taxation for 10 years, but during this period they would not be allowed to change from one estate to another nor to move from the country to the town. At least one quarter of the 50 inhabitants would have to be settled within the first year of the land grant, with the rest being settled within three years following that. The patroons would have full liberty to purchase goods in New Netherland, New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, and New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
, with the exception of furs. But the trader would have to pay an export tax of five per cent in New Amsterdam before goods could be shipped to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The fur trade remained a monopoly of the Company, being the most profitable investment at the time. The weaving of cloth was also prohibited in order to supply the looms in Holland with their needed raw supplies.
The patroon would be responsible for the expenses in erecting barns and other structures and preparing land for farming in addition to supplying the initial farming tools, vehicles, and livestock. However, each tenant would be due to pay a stipulated rent in addition to a percentage of that which they produced. Additionally, no farmer could sell any good without first offering it to patroon. The patroon also bore responsibility of hiring a minister and schoolmaster, as well as financing the respective structures when they became needed. Once the patroonship became a profitable enterprise, the patroon was expected to share net profits with the tenants.
There are some notable aspects of the charter, which, while aiming to make the West India Company wealthy and successful, offered great incentives to the patroons and respect to the indigenous peoples. For example, Article XXVI states that the patroon "must satisfy the Indians of that place for the land", essentially implying that the land must be bought (or barter
Barter
Barter is a method of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. It is usually bilateral, but may be multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a...
ed) from the local Indians, and not just taken. Article VI states that the patroon "shall forever own and possess and hold from the Company as a perpetual fief of inheritance, all the land lying within the aforesaid limits", which made the patroonship a fiefdom
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
. It shall be seen later that one patroonship would last well into the 19th century. Additionally, the Company agreed to protect the patroonships from attack (Article XXV), and even supply the patroonship—for free—"with as many blacks
African slave trade
Systems of servitude and slavery were common in many parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient world. In some African societies, the enslaved people were also indentured servants and fully integrated; in others, they were treated much worse...
as it possibly can ... for [no] longer [a] time than it shall see fit" (Article XXX).
Resulting patroonships
Samuel Blommaert
Samuel Blommaert was a Flemish/Dutch merchant and director of the Dutch West India Company from 1622 to 1629 and again from 1636 to 1642...
had sent Gillis Houset and Jacob Jansz Cuyper to determine satisfactory locations for settlement. This took place before the Charter was ratified, but was done in agreement with a draft of the Charter from March 28, 1628.
Upon ratification of the charter on June 7, 1629, Michael Pauw
Michael Reyniersz Pauw
Knight Michiel Reiniersz Pauw was a burgermeester of Amsterdam and a director of the Dutch West India Company...
informed the Directors of his intention to settle along the "Sickenames River", a stream east of the Connecticut River
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
. On June 19, Samuel Godyn declared his intention to settle "the bay of the South River", the current day Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay is a major estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the Northeast seaboard of the United States whose fresh water mixes for many miles with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It is in area. The bay is bordered by the State of New Jersey and the State of Delaware...
, naming the settlement Zwaanendael. After the settlement had been in existence for only a short while, the colonists—32 in number—were murdered by the local Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
. Godyn sold his holdings back to the West India Company.
Patroonships were not limited to the area of the northeastern United States
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
. On October 15, Michael Pauw made his intention known to settle the islands of Fernando de Noronha
Fernando de Noronha
Fernando de Noronha is an archipelago of 21 islands and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, offshore from the Brazilian coast. The main island has an area of and had a population of 3,012 in the year 2010...
, located off the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian coast. Likewise on October 22, Albertus Conradus declared himself patroon of the island of Saint Vincent
Saint Vincent (island)
Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean. It is the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcanic mountains...
. On November 1, Conradus also registered as patroon of the east side of South Bay
Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay is a major estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the Northeast seaboard of the United States whose fresh water mixes for many miles with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It is in area. The bay is bordered by the State of New Jersey and the State of Delaware...
, that which had not been taken by Samuel Godyn on June 19. It was abandoned and no colony was actually established.
On November 16, 1629, Samuel Blommaert declared himself patroon of the Fresh River presumedly adjoining the one to the east on the Sickenames River previously registered by Michael Pauw. No colony was ever established and the patroonship was eventually abandoned. On January 10, 1630, Pauw declared himself patroon of an area along the southern end of the North River, including land on the present site of Jersey City, and Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, so called in honor of the "Staten", or States General. The patroonship was called Pavonia
Pavonia, New Netherland
Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River that was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland in what would become today's Hudson County, New Jersey.-Hudson and the Hackensack:...
. The enterprise however, was not a financial success and he finally sold his holdings to the West India Company.
The most successful of the settlements started under the patroonship charter was on the upper Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
by Kiliaen van Rensselaer, an Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
jeweler and member of the Chamber of Amsterdam. Van Rensselaer declared his intentions of settling a patroonship on November 19, 1629. From the Mahicans he purchased a plot of land now represented by Albany
Albany County, New York
Albany County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, and is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The name is from the title of the Duke of York and Albany, who became James II of England . As of the 2010 census, the population was 304,204...
and Rensselaer counties, which he called Rensselaerswyck and to which he brought several families from the town of Nijkerk
Nijkerk
Nijkerk is a municipality and a city in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland.- Population centres :...
, the place of his birth. Rensselaerswyck would stay in the van Rensselaer family until its dissolution during the Anti-Rent War
Anti-Rent War
The Anti-Rent War was a tenants' revolt in upstate New York during the early 19th century, beginning with the death of Stephen Van Rensselaer III in 1839....
in the 1840s, with its last patroon, Stephen van Rensselaer III
Stephen Van Rensselaer III
Stephen Van Rensselaer III was Lieutenant Governor of New York as well as a statesman, soldier, and land-owner, the heir to one of the largest estates in the New York region at the time, which made him the tenth richest American of all time, based on the ratio of his fortune to contemporary GDP...
dying a very rich man. To this day, he is listed as the tenth richest American in history, having been worth about $10 million (about $88 billion in 2007 dollars).