The Glorious Revolution led to the dissolution of the Dominion of New
England and the establishment of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Analyze the impact of political developments in England on the American colonies
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
The Glorious Revolution replaced King James II with William and Mary.
William and Mary replaced colonial administrators, includingSir Edmund Andros.
In the early 1680s, the English crown began taking steps to reorganize the colonies of New England.
They aimed to streamline the administration of the small colonies and bring them more closely
under crown control.
TERMS [ edit ]
Sir Edmund Andros
Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in
North America.
William of Orange
William III & II (4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702) was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of
Orange­Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland,
Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William
III over England and Ireland.
Dominion of New England
The Dominion of New England in America (1686–89) was an administrative union of English
colonies in the New England region of North America.
The Dominion of New England
King Charles II of England began taking steps in the early 1680s to reorganize the New England
colonies. He had revoked the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter in 1684 after its Puritan rulers
refused to act on his demands to streamline the administration of the small colonies and bring
them more closely under the crown's control. When Charles II died in 1685, his successor, the
Roman Catholic James II, continued the unification process, which culminated in the creation
of the Dominion of New England.
Sir Edmund Andros as Dominion Governor
In 1686, Sir Edmund Andros, the former governor of New York, was appointed as Dominion
governor. The Dominion consisted of the Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, New Hampshire,
and Rhode Island colonies. In 1688, its jurisdiction was expanded to include New York, and
East and West Jersey.
Andros was extremely unpopular in New England. He disregarded local representation, denied
the validity of existing land titles in Massachusetts (which had been dependent on the old
charter), restricted town meetings, and actively promoted the Church of England in largely
Puritan regions. He also enforced the Navigation Acts, laws that restricted New England trade.
He mistreated the royal troops stationed in Boston, whose officers included Anglicans and
Roman Catholics. Some of the officers, also supporters of the governor, abused the
colonial militia they commanded.
The religious leaders of Massachusetts, Cotton and Increase Mather, opposed Andros's rule and
organized dissent to influence the court in London. After King James II published the
Declaration of Indulgence in 1687, establishing somefreedom of religion, Increase Mather sent
a letter of appreciation to the king and suggested to other Massachusetts pastors that they also
do so as a means to gain favor and influence. Ten pastors agreed and decided to send Increase
Mather to England to press their case against Andros. Despite dominion secretary Edward
Randolph's repeated attempts to stop him (including pressing criminal charges), Mather was
clandestinely spirited aboard a ship bound for England in April 1688. He and other
Massachusetts agents were received by James, who promised in October 1688 to address the
colony's concerns.
James II in England
However, James became increasingly unpopular in England. He alienated otherwise
supportive Tories with his attempts to relax penal laws and faced opposition from the Anglican
church hierarchy when he issued the Declaration of Indulgence. He increased the power of the
regular army, an action seen by many Parliamentarians as a threat to their authority, and
placed Catholics in important military positions. James also attempted to place sympathizers
inParliament who would repeal the Test Act, which required a strict Anglican religious test for
many civil offices. With the birth of his son and potential successor James III in June 1688,
some Whigs and Tories set aside their political differences and conspired to replace James with
his Protestant son­in­law, William of Orange. The Dutch prince, who had tried to get James to
reconsider his policies, agreed to an invasion, and the nearly bloodless "Glorious Revolution"
that followed in November and December 1688 established William and his wife Mary as co­
rulers.
Aftermath and the Province of Massachusetts Bay
The Massachusetts agents then petitioned the new monarchs and the Lords of Trade (who
oversaw colonial affairs) for restoration of the Massachusetts charter. Furthermore, Mather
convinced the Lords of Trade to delay notifying Andros of the revolution. He had already
dispatched, to previous colonial governor Simon Bradstreet, a letter containing news of a report
(prepared before the revolution) that the annulment of the Massachusetts charter had been
illegal, and that the magistrates should "prepare the minds of the people for a change. " Rumors
of the revolution apparently reached some individuals in Boston before official news arrived .
"Andros a Prisoner in Boston" illustrated by F.O.C. Darley, William L. Shepard or Granville Perkins,
1876
In the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, Massachusetts Puritans arrested Andros.
The dissolution of the dominion presented legal problems for both Massachusetts and
Plymouth. Plymouth had never had a royal charter, and Massachusetts' had been legally
vacated. As a result, the restored governments lacked legal foundations for their existence. This
was particularly problematic for Massachusetts because its long frontier withNew France was
exposed to French and Indian raids with the 1689 outbreak of King William's War. The cost of
colonial defense resulted in a heavy tax burden, and the war also made it difficult to rebuild the
colony's trade.
Agents for both colonies worked in England to rectify the charter issues. The Lords of Trade
decided to solve the issue by combining the two provinces. The resulting Province of
Massachusetts Bay, whose charter was issued in 1691 and began operating in 1692 under
governor Sir William Phips, combined the territories of both colonies, along with the islands
south of Cape Cod (Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands) that had been
part of New York.
Portrait of Francis Nicholson, ca. 1710
Nicholson was deposed as lieutenant governor of the Dominion of New England when news of the
Glorious Revolution reached North America.