The head of the Van Rensselaer family was the patroon who owned all the land on which the tenants in the Hudson Valley lived, and used feudal leases to maintain control of the region.

Before the Revolutionary War, the patroons acted like feudal lords, with the right to make laws.

Those who stayed and fought the British expected that if they won, they would either be released from their tenancy, or at the least, be allowed to purchase the land at fair market value.

Instead, the new government of New York decided to honor the lease contracts of the patroons, who contributed heavily to the politicians.

[citation needed] The first meeting of the Town of Rensselaerville (which then included what are now known as the four "Hilltowns") was held in 1790 at the home of Johannes Fischer on Stranahan Lane.

When the town of Bern was created in 1795, the first meeting was also held in the home of Johannes Fisher.

[7] The first mass meeting of tenant farmers leading to the Anti-Rent War was held in Berne on July 4, 1839.

In January 1845, one hundred and fifty delegates from eleven counties assembled in St. Paul's Lutheran Church to call for political action to redress their grievances.