John I. Slingerland

John I. Slingerland (March 1, 1804 – October 26, 1861) was a New York farmer, businessman, and politician who served in the New York State Assembly and the United States House of Representatives. A native and lifelong resident of the town of Bethlehem in Albany County, he became known both for his advocacy on behalf of tenant farmers during the Anti-Rent War and for his antislavery efforts in Congress, particularly his role in publicizing the 1848 Pearl incident.

Slingerland was born in Jerusalem, now known as Feura Bush, a hamlet of Bethlehem, New York, the son of John and Leah (Britt) Slingerland. He attended the local schools in Bethlehem and from an early age engaged in agricultural pursuits, eventually operating a successful farm. The Slingerland family became prominent landholders in the area, and the hamlet of Slingerlands, New York, was later named for his family. His lifelong residence in Bethlehem and its hamlets anchored his subsequent business and political activities in the local community.

In addition to farming, Slingerland was involved in several business ventures that reflected the growth of transportation and commerce in upstate New York in the mid-nineteenth century. He was an original incorporator and director of the Albany, Rensselaerville and Schoharie Plank Road Company, which constructed and maintained a toll road from Albany to Gallupville, passing through New Scotland, New Salem, and Berne. He also took part in the creation of a toll road linking the hamlet of Slingerlands to Albany, improving access between the rural community and the regional center. Later, he was active in railroad development and worked to bring the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad line to Bethlehem, further integrating the town into the expanding transportation network of the era.

A member of the Whig Party in his early political career, Slingerland was elected to the New York State Assembly, serving in 1843 and 1844. During this period he became a prominent supporter of tenant farmers in the Anti-Rent War, a revolt against New York’s Patroon system under which large landowners, or patroons, sought to collect long-overdue back rents from small farmers. Slingerland consistently sided with the tenants, using his position in the Assembly to oppose the entrenched manor system that had empowered and enriched a small number of large landowning families since the early 1600s. His advocacy contributed to the broader movement that ultimately led to the dismantling of the manor system and significant changes in landholding patterns in upstate New York.

Slingerland was elected as a Whig to the Thirtieth Congress and served in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1847, to March 3, 1849. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1848 and, after his term ended, resumed his agricultural and business pursuits in Bethlehem. While in Congress, he continued to maintain his sympathy for tenant farmers, carrying forward the positions he had taken in the Assembly. He also emerged as an antislavery activist. In 1848 he played a notable role in publicizing the Pearl incident, in which more than 70 enslaved people attempted to escape from Washington, D.C., aboard the schooner Pearl. After the escapees were captured and many were sold to slaveholders in the Deep South, Slingerland alerted antislavery advocates and the press to the episode. The national publicity he helped generate, including his widely circulated “Horrors of Slavery” letter to Thurlow Weed, intensified abolitionist efforts to end the slave trade in the nation’s capital.

As the national political landscape shifted in the 1850s, Slingerland aligned himself with the emerging Republican Party. He became a Republican when the party was founded in 1855 and took an active role in its early campaigns, including working for John C. Frémont’s presidential candidacy in 1856. He returned to state politics at the end of the decade and again served in the New York State Assembly from 1860 to 1861. During this later legislative service he continued to advocate for tenants seeking to abolish the remnants of the manor system, maintaining the reformist stance that had characterized his earlier public life.

Slingerland’s personal life was closely tied to the Bethlehem area. In 1823 he married Elizabeth Van Derzee (1802–1835) in New Salem, another community in the region. They were the parents of several children, including Maria, John (d. 1882), and Harmon V. Slingerland (1835–1917). After Elizabeth’s death in 1835, he married Sally Hall (d. 1874). Their children included Elizabeth (born 1838) and William (born 1845). Many of his descendants continued to reside in the Slingerlands area, reinforcing the family’s longstanding presence in the community.

John I. Slingerland died at his home in Slingerlands, New York, on October 26, 1861. He was interred in the Slingerland family mausoleum, a vault on his property that has remained a subject of local historical interest. His residence at 1575 New Scotland Road still stands and is part of the Slingerlands Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. Into the twenty-first century, efforts have continued to preserve the Slingerland family vault and related historic sites, reflecting the enduring local significance of Slingerland’s family and his role in the political and social history of Albany County and New York State.