Stephen Van Rensselaer III (; November 1, 1764January 26, 1839), was an American landowner, businessman, politician, and militia officer. He took control of Rensselaerswyck, his family's manor in upstate New York, at the age of twenty-one. He encouraged settlement by granting tenants seven years of free rent, although he retained ownership of timber, minerals, and water power. He earned the sobriquet "the Good Patroon" for generally proving to be a lenient landlord; rather than eviction, he preferred to accept partial payment or goods and services in lieu of cash when tenants were in arrears.
A Federalist and brother-in-law of Alexander Hamilton, Van Rensselaer served in both houses of the state legislature and as lieutenant governor. After the demise of the Federalist Party, Van Rensselaer was a John Quincy Adams supporter and served in the United States House of Representatives for one partial term and three full ones. Van Rensselaer was a supporter of higher education; he served on the board of trustees for several schools and colleges and was the founder of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was also a civic activist and philanthropist and was a founder of Albany's public library and the city's Institute of History & Arts.
Long active in the militia, Van Rensselaer attained the rank of major general; he commanded troops on the New York–Canada border during the War of 1812, but resigned his commission after defeat at the Battle of Queenston Heights. After Van Rensselaer's 1839 death, efforts by his sons to collect past due lease payments led to the Anti-Rent War, and the break up and sale of the manor. As the heir to and then owner of one of the largest estates in New York, Van Rensselaer's holdings made him the tenth richest American of all time, based on the ratio of his fortune to contemporary GDP.
Early life Van Rensselaer was born in New York City, the eldest child of Stephen van Rensselaer II, the ninth patroon of Rensselaerswyck, a large land grant in Upstate New York awarded to his ancestor Kiliaen Van Rensselaer by the Dutch Republic when the region was part of the colony of New Netherland. His mother was Catharina Livingston, daughter of Philip Livingston, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. 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. He grew up with the men on his maternal side and became very interested in the sciences such as mathematics, biology and chemistry.Bielinski, Stefan. "Stephen Van Rensselaer III" , nysm.nysed.gov; accessed April 15, 2016.
Van Rensselaer was raised by his mother and stepfather, the Reverend Eilardus Westerlo, whom his mother married in 1775, and his Livingston grandfather. His uncle, Abraham Ten Broeck, administered the Van Rensselaer estate after the untimely death of Van Rensselaer's father. From an early age, Van Rensselaer was raised to succeed his father as lord of the manor. Stephen's younger brother Philip S. Van Rensselaer (1767–1824), later served as Mayor of Albany from 1799 to 1816, and again from 1819 to 1820.
Van Rensselaer began attending the College of New Jersey (later Princeton); since it was near to battles of the ongoing American Revolution, he was later sent to Harvard College, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. degree in 1782.
Early career On his 21st birthday, Van Rensselaer took possession of Rensselaerswyck, his family's 1,200 square mile (3,072 km2) estate, and began a long tenure as lord of the manor. Van Rensselaer desired to profit from the land, but was extremely reluctant to sell it off. Instead, he developed the land by granting perpetual leases at moderate rates; Van Rensselaer derived a steady rental income from his property while retaining timber, water, and mineral rights, while tenants were able to become successful farmers without having to pay a large purchase price up front. This meant that they could invest more in their operations, which led to increased productivity in the area. Over time, Van Rensselaer became landlord to more than 80,000 tenants. He generally proved to be a lenient landlord; he accepted produce such as grain and firewood in place of cash for rent payments, and when tenants found themselves in financial difficulty, he usually preferred to accept late or partial payments rather than evict them. One facet of the leases Van Rensselaer granted was the "quarter-sale"—tenants who sold their leases were required to pay Van Rensselaer one fourth of the sale price or one additional year's rent. Over time, this requirement became a point of contention between Van Rensselaer and the tenants, which in part led to the Anti-Rent War.
In the 1790 United States census, it was recorded that he owned fifteen slaves.Heads of Families at the First Census 1790, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1976, p. 52 By the time of the 1830 census, he had none, in keeping with New York's gradual emancipation law, under which all enslaved people in the state were freed by 1827. Van Rensselaer later became an advocate of enabling African Americans to emigrate to colonies in Africa, such as Liberia, and he served as a vice president of the Albany Auxiliary Society and the American Colonization Society.
In 1791, Van Rensselaer was one of the incorporators of the Albany Library, which evolved over time into the Albany Public Library, and he was chosen to serve on the board of trustees. In 1797, Van Rensselaer was an organizer of the Albany and Schenectady Turnpike Company, and served on its board of directors.
Political career A Federalist, Van Rensselaer was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1789 to 1791, and the New York State Senate from 1791 to 1796.
He was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1795 to 1801, elected with Governor John Jay. Van Rensselaer, over his time in politics, acquired a reputation as something of a reformer, voting in favor of extending suffrage and going against much of New York's upper class in doing so. In 1801, Van Rensselaer presided over the state constitutional convention, was the Federalist nominee for Governor of New York, and lost to George Clinton, 24,808 votes to 20,843.
He was one of the first to advocate for a canal from the Hudson River to the Great Lakes and was appointed to a commission to investigate the route in 1810,Spooner, pp. 129 reporting favorably to the Assembly in 1811. Van Rensselaer served on the Erie Canal Commission for 23 years (1816–1839), fourteen of which he served as its president. In 1821, he was a member of the New York State Constitutional Convention.
In 1822, he won the special election for the seat in the House of Representatives from which his cousin Solomon had resigned. He served from February 27, 1822, to March 3, 1829, during the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Congresses; during the last three sessions, he was the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture.
Role in deciding 1824 presidential election In 1825 Van Rensselaer cast the vote that likely decided the presidential election in favor of John Quincy Adams. Because none of the four candidates received a majority of electoral votes in the 1824 presidential election, the U.S. House had to choose from the top three finishers—Adams, Andrew Jackson, and William H. Crawford. House members voted first individually by state, and then each state cast one ballot for the candidate who received a majority of the state's House delegation; a candidate had to carry 13 state delegations to win the election. Van Rensselaer had intended to vote for Crawford, but changed his mind and voted for Adams. His vote gave Adams a majority of the New York delegation; winning New York gave Adams 13 states in the House vote, to seven for Jackson and four for Crawford.
Military career
In 1786, Van Rensselaer was appointed a major in the Albany County Regiment of the New York militia. He became commander of the regiment two years later as a lieutenant colonel, and was subsequently promoted to colonel. In 1801 he was promoted to major general as commander of the state militia's cavalry division.
War of 1812
Van Rensselaer's militia experience led to an appointment to command troops during the War of 1812. When war was declared on Great Britain in June 1812, Van Rensselaer was a leading Federalist candidate for Governor of New York. Democratic-Republican Party leaders, including President James Madison and incumbent New York Governor Daniel D. Tompkins, devised a way to remove Van Rensselaer from the campaign by offering him command of the Army of the Centre—U.S. militia and regular Army troops massing in upstate New York for an invasion of Canada. If Van Rensselaer declined a military leadership role during a time of war, he would lose esteem in the eyes of the voters. If he accepted, he would likely be unable to run for governor.
Van Rensselaer accepted; despite having held high rank in the militia, he was largely inexperienced at leading large bodies of troops. As a condition of his acceptance, his cousin Solomon, who had more military experience, was appointed his aide-de-camp. But the Army of the Centre consisted largely of untrained, inexperienced militiamen; under the Constitution, which stressed that the role of the militia was to enforce laws, prevent insurrection, and repel invasion, they did not have to cross into Canada to fight.
The British were in the process of fortifying the Queenston Heights that Van Rensselaer would have to attack, and his officers were itching for action despite their general's desire to delay until his troops were better trained and organized. To make matters worse, Brigadier General Alexander Smyth, Van Rensselaer's subordinate, had a large force of regular Army troops that was theoretically under Van Rensselaer's command, but Smyth refused to subordinate himself to a militia officer. With some of his officers planning to try and force him from command, Van Rensselaer decided to act without Smyth.
On October 13, 1812, Van Rensselaer launched an attack on the British position that would evolve into the Battle of Queenston Heights. Though initially successful, Van Rensselaer's inadequate preparations and his plan of attack were clearly main reasons for what became a major defeat. He was unable to secure the element of surprise, he did not procure enough boats for his men to cross the Niagara River easily, and he was even unable to supply his soldiers with sufficient ammunition. Despite significantly outnumbering the British in the early stages of the battle, the American soldiers, untried and untrained, sometimes refused to cross to the Canadian side of the river. Once the tide of the battle turned, Van Rensselaer was not even able to coax the boatmen into going back over to rescue the doomed attack force. His forces were badly beaten by British troops under generals Isaac Brock and, after Brock's death, Roger Hale Sheaffe.
The defeat at Queenston Heights spelled the end to Van Rensselaer's active military career; after the battle, he resigned his post. He continued to serve in the militia and was the senior major general in the state at the time of his death. Despite his military setback, Van Rensselaer was still the Federalist candidate for governor in April 1813; he lost to Tompkins 43,324 votes to 39,713.
Later career
After the war, Van Rensselaer continued his service on the Erie Canal Commission, and between 1820 and 1823 commissioned an agricultural and geological survey of the canal's surroundings, at his own expense. He also held many significant posts after the war. In 1820, he was elected president of the state Board of Agriculture. Also in 1820, he was an incorporator of the Albany Savings Bank, and was elected to serve as the bank's president.