 On April 23, 1653, representatives of the people of the countryside of Lucerne, Bern, Basel, and Solothurn met at Sumiswald and concluded an alliance to help each other to achieve their goals.A week later, they met again at Huttwil, where they renewed that alliance and elected Niklaus Leuenberger from Rüderswil in the Emmental as their leader.On May 14, 1653, the peasants met again at a "Landsgemeinde" at Huttwil and formalized their alliance as the "League of Huttwil" by signing a written contract in the style of the old "Bundesbriefe" of the Old Swiss Confederacy.