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- Us history to 1877
- Us history to 1877
- Ch. 3 british colonial america
Dissent
Between the English Civil War (1642-1651) and the Glorious Revolution (1688), England lost control of the colonies at times. England also tried to reassert its control of the colonies. NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERATION, 1634-1684. "As a result of the Pequot War of 1637, New England settlements were receptive to plans for strengthening colonial defenses against the threat of Indian attacks. Leaders in Hartford advanced the idea of forming a defensive alliance among like-minded settlements in the area — a proposal that pointedly excluded the Anglican residents in Maine and the free-thinkers of Rhode Island.
After several years of negotiations, delegates from Connecticut, New Haven, Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colony met in Boston in 1643 and formed The United Colonies of New England, more commonly known as the New England Confederation. The organization was to be composed of two delegates from each of the four member colonies. Six of the eight votes were necessary to adopt any measure. Regular annual meetings were to be held, but additional conferences could be called in cases of emergency.Member colonies were motivated to join not only because of the fear of Indian attack, but also because of the threats posed by the Dutch in the New Netherland and the French in Canada. It also was hoped that the Confederation would seek solutions to a number of nettlesome boundary issues.
The Confederation was not intended to be a central government for the New England colonies; each retained its own governing institutions.Powers of the Confederation included the following: 1) To assess member colonies for the costs of defense; proportionate dues were to be levied on the number of males, ages 16 to 60, residing in each colony; and, 2) To require member colonies to participate in the return of fugitives from justice and runaway slaves. The latter requirement anticipated the fugitive slave laws of later times.
Massachusetts Bay, the largest of the colonies, quickly discovered that too much authority had been surrendered to its smaller neighbors. As a result, when the Bay Colony faced an unpopular decision of the Confederation, it simply ignored the instruction. The Connecticut settlements lived in the shadow of the Dutch in the New Netherland and obtained the necessary votes for participation in the Anglo-Dutch conflict of the 1650s. Distant Massachusetts Bay refused to honor the summons to action. Not surprisingly, the Confederation's influence declined sharply from this time forward, but a brief revival occurred during the bitter conflict of King Philip’s War (1675-76).The New England Confederation was a small first step toward formal cooperation among the colonies. In 1686, the Crown would create the Dominion of New England, a highly unpopular merger of New York and New Jersey with the New England colonies. Later, on the eve of the French and Indian War, seven colonies would give consideration to Ben Franklin's Albany Plan of Union, a proposal for a federated colonial government." (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h545.html).
DOMINION OF NEW ENGLAND, 1686-1689. "James II became apprehensive about the New England colonies' increasingly independent ways; he and other British officials were particularly upset by the open flouting of the Navigation Acts. The continuing military threat posed by the French and their Indian allies in North America was an additional reason to tighten control of the colonies. In 1686, all of New England was joined in an administrative merger, the Dominion of New England; two years later, New York and both New Jerseys were added.This agency's creation was regarded in Britain as a thoughtful move and not a punitive measure. Unifying the northern colonies for purposes of defense and administrative control was viewed differently in America. The colonists had earlier participated in the New England Confederation.
Joseph Dudley served briefly as the first president of the Dominion, but was replaced by Sir Edmund Andros. An experienced soldier and dedicated public servant, Andros nevertheless lacked the common sense and personal skills to be successful in his new position. He followed his orders assiduously by terminating local assemblies, taxing the colonists without the consent of their representatives, and vigorously attempting to end smuggling through strict enforcement of the Navigation Acts.Massachusetts was not the only colony in which the Dominion caused a furor. In 1687, Andros was so angered by Connecticut's failure to cooperate with the new regime that he and armed retainers tried to take physical possession of the colony’s charter. According to legend, the Connecticut colonists hid the document within a crevice of an old oak tree.
The Dominion experienced little success, due largely to colonial intransigence. New England merchants had long made smuggling a way of life and bitterly resisted changes that might affect their income sources. Andros’ efforts to unify colonial military responses were stillborn because of his failure to provide much in the way of funding and arms. The Dominion came to an abrupt halt in 1689, when word arrived in the colonies about the removal of James II from the throne in the Glorious Revolution.The failure of the Dominion of New England temporarily changed many British officials' attitudes toward the American colonies. A period of “salutary neglect” prevailed in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Some in authority believed that there was greater wisdom in attempting to encourage commercial relations with the colonies than in meddling in their governmental affairs. That beneficial disregard did much to foster the growth of self-government in America.
The colonists would again take up the issue of unified action at the First Continental Congress (1774) — but that integration was an American decision, not one imposed by the mother country." (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h546.html). The charter for the Dominion was designed to strip power and authority from established colonial courts and government offices. Andros was givern the power to raise and collect taxes, build forts, maintain an army, create a court system, and be the final arbitrator on all legal matters.
Source:
OpenStax, Us history to 1877. OpenStax CNX. Jan 20, 2013 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11483/1.1
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