Satanstoe

The year 1845 brought from Cooper's pen "Satanstoe" -- quaint, old-fashioned, and the first of his three anti-rent books.

James Fenimore Cooper 1901

I was born on the 3d May, 1737, on a neck of land, called Satanstoe, in the county of West Chester, and in the colony of New York; a part of the widely extended empire that then owned the sway of His Sacred Majesty, George II.,

Satanstoe James Fenimore Cooper 1820

Anti-Rent agitation by which the State of New York was so long shaken; and three of his novels, "Satanstoe," "The Chainbearer," and "The Redskins," forming one continuous narrative, were written with reference to this subject.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862 Various

"Satanstoe" are animated and delightful; and in all the legal and ethical points for which the author contends he is perfectly right.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 09, No. 51, January, 1862 Various

[Illustration: HELL GATE.] "The Chainbearer," second of the anti-rent series, was published early in 1846, and continues the story of "Satanstoe" in the person of the hero's son, who finds in the squatters on his wilderness inheritance the first working of the disorderly spirit of anti-rent -- the burning question of New York at that time.

James Fenimore Cooper 1901

Lounsbury's able life of Cooper affirms of "Satanstoe": "It is a picture of colonial life and manners in New York during the eighteenth century, such as can be found drawn nowhere else so truthfully and vividly."

James Fenimore Cooper 1901

The title "Satanstoe" was given in a moment of Cooper's "intense disgust" at the "canting" attempt then made to change the name of the dangerous passage of Hell Gate, East River, to Hurl Gate.

James Fenimore Cooper 1901

In no sense is "Satanstoe," in particular, a political novel.

James Fenimore Cooper American Men of Letters Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury 1876

The two anti-rent novels which appeared in 1845 were "Satanstoe," published in June, and "The Chainbearer," published in November.

James Fenimore Cooper American Men of Letters Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury 1876

We had been led to lay these Manuscripts before the world, partly by considerations of the above nature, and partly on account of the manner in which the two works we have named, "Satanstoe" and the "Chainbearer," relate directly to the great New York question of the day, ANTI-RENTISM; which question will be found to be pretty fully laid bare, in the third and last book of the series.

Satanstoe James Fenimore Cooper 1820