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During the century preceding the American Revolution, bitter conflicts raged in New Jersey over control of the land tenure system. This work examines how the struggle between yeoman farmers and landed gentry shaped public life in the colony. At once a cultural, political and social history, it delineates the beliefs of rioters and upholders of order, both of whom wanted control over land. Brendan J. MConville describes how changes in provincial society - affecting politics and government, religious life, economic conditions, gender relations and ethnic composition - led farmers to resort to violence as a means of settling property disputes. He examines the disagreements in light of competing conceptions of property held by separate landowning classes, differences in the legal and political traditions of British and Dutch colonists, and local conditions unique to New Jersey. He also considers the ways in which the lack of a shared perception of deference among Puritan, Dutch and multi-ethnic farmers helped foster insurrection. According to McConville, the social transformations brought into sharp focus by the agrarian unrest ultimately undermined imperial control and encouraged the creation of a new American identity.