Sir Edmund Andros.
59. The Tyranny of Andros.—Massachusetts was now a royal colony, and in one year it exchanged masters for the worse. James II. was a devoted Roman Catholic, who had no sympathy with New England Puritans. In 1686 he sent over Sir Edmund Andros,[[37]] as governor of Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Hampshire, and Maine. Andros was a servant worthy of his master, vexatious and tyrannical. He demanded the charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut; his demand was acceded to in the former colony, but in the latter it is said that the important document was hid at Hartford, in a tree since known as the “Charter Oak.” The governor was not to be foiled, however, for he declared Connecticut to be under his jurisdiction, and took in New York and the Jerseys (§ [68]) as well. Thus he had the largest territory ever ruled by a provincial governor in America. He held Episcopal services in Congregational churches, suspended the writ of habeas corpus, levied illegal taxes, and made himself thoroughly obnoxious.
60. Fall of Andros: New Charters.—In the spring of 1689 news came of the accession of William and Mary, and the tyrant of the colonies was driven out, just as James had been from England. The old charters were restored for a time, but in 1691 Plymouth and Acadia (§ [98, note 1]) were added to Massachusetts, and in 1692 a new charter was given the colony. By this instrument the people were still permitted to vote for representatives; but the governor was appointed by the Crown, and religious qualifications for the suffrage were abolished. Massachusetts was allowed to keep Maine, but New Hampshire was made a separate colony. Connecticut and Rhode Island recovered their charters, and the century ended with New England comparatively quiet and loyal.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES.
61. The Dutch Settlers.—The Dutch West India Company fared badly at the hands of its own members, the “Patroons,” who shut it out from trading with their estates. It also had trouble, as we have seen, with New Englanders at Hartford, and likewise with the Virginians, who came trading as far north as the Delaware River. With the Indians, too, there were serious disturbances, chiefly with the Algonquins, through the mismanagement of Governor Kieft (1643–1645).
62. Attempts to check the Patroons.—The Company sought to check the power of the “Patroons” by establishing communities more or less independent of them, but the attempt did not thoroughly succeed. Political disturbances were also due in large measure to the overbearing conduct of governors, and to the lack of proper guarantees of popular liberty. In 1641, however, a council of twelve deputies from the settlements was called in to assist the governor, and a little later, under Peter Stuyvesant,[[38]] this was made a self-perpetuating council. Government was rendered specially difficult on account of the mixture of population in the colony. For example, so many French Huguenots had fled thither that documents were often printed in both French and Dutch.
Peter Stuyvesant.
63. Swedish Settlement.—Meanwhile difficulties arose between the Dutch and the Swedes; for in 1638 the South Company of Sweden, which had been chartered under Gustavus Adolphus by an enterprising man, William Usselinx, sent out a former employee of the Dutch Company, Peter Minuit, to found a colony. He erected a fort on the site of what is now Wilmington, Delaware, and called the country New Sweden, under the protests, of course, of the Dutch, whose territorial claims had been invaded. New Englanders tried to establish themselves on the Schuylkill and in the present New Jersey, but were soon driven out. The Swedes persevered until Stuyvesant built a fort near one of theirs, not far from what is now Newcastle, Delaware; and four years later (1655) the Swedish Company was forced to give up its attempt at colonization.