The 18th-century Hudson Valley was one of the most important landscapes of the British empire—an essential link between a continent dominated by Indigenous power and an Atlantic world fueled by slave labor. The valley had a distinctive political economy, defined by the manor: a form of property that granted rights in land and limited legal jurisdiction to a lord. This talk traces the growth of New York’s manors in the 18th century, alongside a counter-history of Indigenous survival and resistance. The story culminates with a mass tenant uprising in the 1760s, spearheaded by an unlikely alliance between tenant farmers and Native people. When some landlords intensified their approach to market-oriented agriculture—replacing customary lease terms with short leases and money rents—they provoked first nonviolent resistance, then armed insurgency. Tenants turned to extra-legal action even as their Wappinger and Mohican allies pursued their land rights within the imperial legal system. Together, their actions reveal the contested foundations of rural capitalism on the eve of revolution.
This program is part of our Fall Rev250 Speaker Series, five programs on the Revolution’s impact in Dutchess County and the evolving cultural landscape of the Hudson Valley.
All programs are free to attend and require registration in advance. Refreshments provided.
Paid for in part by Dutchess County. Learn more about our Rev250 programming.
Presenter Bio:
BJ Lillis is an early American historian whose research brings together histories of Atlantic slavery, Indigenous North America, and English, Dutch, and German colonialism to explore the contested relationship between land, labor, and property in the Hudson Valley. BJ is currently a Research Associate at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture in Williamsburg, VA. They completed their Ph.D in history at Princeton University in 2024. Before graduate school, BJ worked in public history at the Museum of the City of New York, including as Project Assistant for New York at Its Core, the museum’s groundbreaking permanent exhibition on the past, present, and future of New York City. They are also known for their acclaimed collaborations with the artist Lissa Rivera, Beautiful Boy and The Silence of Spaces, exploring the history and performance of gender.