The Dominion of New England in America (1686–1689) was a short-lived administrative union of English colonies covering all of New England and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies, with the exception of the Delaware Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania. The region's political structure was one of centralized control similar to the model used by the Spanish monarchy under the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The dominion was unacceptable to most colonists because they deeply resented being stripped of their rights and having their colonial charters revoked. Governor Edmund Andros tried to make legal and structural changes, but most of these were undone and the Dominion was overthrown as soon as word was received that King James II had vacated the throne in England. One notable change was the forced introduction of the Church of England into Massachusetts, whose Puritan leaders had previously refused to allow it any foothold.
The Dominion encompassed a very large area from the Delaware River in the south to Penobscot Bay in the north, composed of the Province of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut Colony, Province of New York, the provinces of East Jersey and West Jersey, and a small portion of Maine. It was too large for a single governor to manage. Governor Andros was highly unpopular and was seen as a threat by most political factions. News of the Glorious Revolution in England reached Boston in 1689, and the Puritans launched the 1689 Boston revolt against Andros, arresting him and his officers.
Leisler's Rebellion in New York deposed the dominion's lieutenant governor Francis Nicholson. After these events, the colonies that had been assembled into the dominion reverted to their previous forms of government, although some governed informally without a charter. King William III of England and Queen Mary II eventually issued new charters.
Background A number of English colonies were established in America and in the West Indies during the first half of the 17th century, with varying attributes. Some originated as commercial ventures, such as the Virginia Colony, while others were founded for religious reasons, such as Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony and Rhode Island Colony. The governments of the colonies also varied. Virginia became a crown colony, despite its corporate beginning, while Massachusetts and other New England colonies had corporate charters and a great deal of administrative freedom. Other areas were proprietary colonies, such as Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Carolina, owned and under the jurisdiction of one or a few individuals.
Following the English Restoration in 1660, King Charles II sought to centralize the administration of these separate colonial entities. Charles and his government began a process that brought a number of the colonies under direct crown control. One reason for these actions was the cost of administration of individual colonies, but another significant reason was the regulation of trade. Throughout the 1660s, the English Parliament passed a number of laws to regulate the trade of the colonies, collectively called the Navigation Acts. The American colonists resisted these laws, particularly in the New England colonies which had established significant trading networks with other English colonies and with European countries and their colonies, especially Spain and the Dutch Republic. The Navigation Acts also outlawed some long-standing New England practices, in effect turning merchants into smugglers while significantly increasing the cost of doing business.
Some of the New England colonies presented specific problems for the king, and combining those colonies into a single administrative entity was seen as a way to resolve those problems. Plymouth Colony had never been formally chartered, and the New Haven Colony had sheltered two of the regicides of Charles I, the king's father. The territory of Maine was disputed by competing grantees and by Massachusetts, and New Hampshire was a very small, recently established crown colony whose own elites opposed its existence. In 1683, Gove's Rebellion was in opposition to direct royal rule in New Hampshire. The Massachusetts General Court authorized Boston silversmith John Hull to produce local coinage between 1652 and 1682, which the English government considered treasonous.
Massachusetts had a long history of virtually theocratic rule, and they exhibited little tolerance for non-Puritans, including supporters of the Church of England (which was most important for the king). Charles II repeatedly sought to change the Massachusetts government, but they resisted all substantive attempts at reform. In 1683, legal proceedings were begun to vacate the Massachusetts charter; it was formally annulled in June 1684.
England's desire for colonies that produced agricultural staples worked well for the southern colonies, which produced tobacco, rice, and indigo, but not so well for New England due to the geology of the region. Lacking a suitable staple, the New Englanders engaged in trade and became successful competitors to English merchants. They were now starting to develop workshops that threatened to deprive England of its lucrative colonial market for manufactured articles, such as textiles, leather goods, and ironware. The plan, therefore, was to establish a uniform all-powerful government over the northern colonies so that the people would be diverted away from manufacturing and foreign trade.Curtis P. Nettels, The Roots of American Civilization: A History of American Colonial Life (1938) p. 297.
Establishment Following the revocation of the Massachusetts charter, Charles II and the Lords of Trade moved forward with plans to establish a unified administration over at least some of the New England colonies. The specific objectives of the dominion included the regulation of trade, reformation of land title practices to conform more to English methods and practices, coordination on matters of defense, and a streamlining of the administration into fewer centers. The Dominion initially comprised the territories of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Plymouth Colony, the Province of New Hampshire, the Province of Maine, and the Narraganset Country (Washington County, Rhode Island).
Charles II had chosen Colonel Percy Kirke to govern the dominion, but Charles died in February 1685 before the commission was approved. King James II approved Kirke's commission later in 1685, but Kirke came under harsh criticism for his role in putting down Monmouth's Rebellion, and his commission was withdrawn.Barnes, p. 45 The King issued a provisional commission on October 8, 1685 to Massachusetts Bay native Joseph Dudley as President of the Council of New England, due to delays in developing the commission for Kirke's intended successor Sir Edmund Andros.Barnes, pp. 47–48
Dudley's limited commission specified that he would rule with an appointed council and no representative legislature.Barnes, p. 48 The councilors named as members of this body included a cross-section of politically moderate men from the old colonial governments. Edward Randolph had served as the crown agent investigating affairs in New England, and he was appointed to the council, as well.Barnes, p. 49 Randolph was also commissioned with a long list of other posts, including secretary of the dominion, collector of customs, and deputy postmaster.Barnes, p. 50
Dudley administration Dudley's charter arrived in Boston on May 14, 1686, and he formally took charge of Massachusetts on May 25.Barnes, pp. 50,54 His rule did not begin auspiciously, since a number of Massachusetts magistrates refused to serve on his council.Barnes, p. 51 Simon Bradstreet, William Stoughton, Peter Bulkley, John Pynchon, Robert Tufton Mason, Richard Wharton, Wait Winthrop, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Jonathan Tyng, John Usher, Dudley Bradstreet, John Hincks, Francis Champenoone, Edward Tyng, Fitz-John Winthrop, and Edward Randolph were all named in the commission, but Bradstreet and Wait Winthrop refused.Boulton, p. 591
According to Edward Randolph, the Puritan magistrates "were of opinion that God would never suffer me to land again in this country, and thereupon began in a most arbitrary manner to assert their power higher than at any time before."Barnes, p. 53 Elections of colonial military officers were also compromised when many of them refused to serve.Barnes, p. 55 Dudley made a number of judicial appointments, generally favoring the political moderates who had supported accommodation of the king's wishes in the battle over the old charter.Barnes, p. 56
Dudley was significantly hampered by the inability to raise revenues in the dominion. His commission did not allow the introduction of new revenue laws, and the Massachusetts government had repealed all such laws in 1683, anticipating the loss of the charter.Barnes, p. 58 Furthermore, many refused to pay the few remaining taxes on the grounds that they had been enacted by the old government and were thus invalid.Barnes, p. 59 Dudley and Randolph were largely unsuccessful at introducing the Church of England due to a lack of funding, but they were also hampered by the perceived political danger of imposing on the existing churches for their use.Barnes, p. 61
Dudley and Randolph enforced the Navigation Acts, although they did not adhere entirely to the laws. Some variations were overlooked, understanding that certain provisions of the acts were unfair, and they suggested to the Lords of Trade that the laws be modified to ameliorate these conditions. However, the Massachusetts economy suffered, also negatively affected by external circumstances.Barnes, pp. 62–63 A dispute eventually occurred between Dudley and Randolph over matters related to trade.Barnes, p. 68
The Lords of Trade decided on September 9, 1686 to include the colonies of Rhode Island and Connecticut in the dominion, based on a petition from Dudley's council. Andros's commission had been issued in June, and he was given an annex to his commission to incorporate them into the dominion.
Andros administration Andros had previously been governor of New York; he arrived in Boston on December 20, 1686 and immediately assumed power.Lustig, p. 141 He took a hard-line position, claiming that the colonists had left behind all their rights as Englishmen when they left England. The Reverend John Wise rallied his parishioners in 1687 to protest and resist taxes, so Andros had him arrested, convicted, and fined. An Andros official stated: "Mr. Wise, you have no more privileges Left you then not to be Sold for Slaves."Alan Taylor, American Colonies: The Settling of North America (2001) p277
Andros' commission called for governance by himself with a council. The initial composition of the council included representatives from each of the colonies which the dominion absorbed, but the council's quorums were dominated by representatives from Massachusetts and Plymouth because of the inconvenience of travel and the fact that travel costs were not reimbursed.
Church of England Shortly after his arrival, Andros asked each of the Puritan churches in Boston if its meetinghouse could be used for services of the Church of England, but he was consistently rebuffed. He then demanded keys to Samuel Willard's Third Church in 1687,Lustig, p. 164 and services were held there under the auspices of Robert Ratcliff until 1688, when King's Chapel was built.Lustig, p. 165
Revenue laws