In 1839, the people of Berne, New York, a small farming community near Albany, celebrated Independence Day by issuing their own declaration of independence — not from the government but from their landlord.

Unique among Americans at the time, the region’s residents had lived under a feudal system of land tenancy since the 1600s, a product of the Netherlands’ brief flirtation with the so-called New World. The declaration in Berne kicked off a sequence of events that would culminate in the oft-forgotten Anti-Rent War of 1845.

The tenants’ uprising marked a turning point in the history of activism in the US. Before 1840, sporadic renters’ strikes conformed to a familiar pattern: tenants would riot, state militia would be sent in, perhaps the most outspoken rioter would be jailed, and all would soon be forgotten. In contrast, the tenants in Berne created a coherent movement with clear goals, and became a political force in New York. Within a decade, feudal land ownership in New York had faded away.