Part 5. The Northern Colonies in the Last Quarter of the Seventeenth Century
Volume 1, Chapter 43. The Northern Colonies, 1666-1675
By the mid-1660s, the enormous impact of the Restoration Crisis in the Northern Colonies was over,
and the colonies began to settle down to their changed conditions.
In New England, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, not only self-governing remained, but confirmation of this role was won by royal charter.
Rhode Island also retained its control over Narragansett country, despite Connecticut's attempted seizure.
Connecticut succeeded in seizing and annexing the colony of New Haven,
Thus eliminating the last major bastion of Calvinist Ultra-Orthodoxy in New England.
Massachusetts triumphed over the attempts of the Royal Commission to bring it to heel,
and it remained defiant and self-governing.
The main towns were organized into a separate government by the commissioners, but they were soon re-annexed by Massachusetts Bay.
But the rigid rule of the Massachusetts theocratic oligarchy was steadily weakening, from within,
as the more liberal merchants rose to greater influence with the rise of Boston as a crucial
trade center of New England.
The halfway covenant demonstrated the weakening of the Puritan zeal of the younger generation
of the Bay Colony and the persecution of the Quakers was virtually over.
In the Middle Colonies the critical event was the almost bloodless seizure of New Netherland
by the English and its transformation into the proprietary colony of New York owned by
the Duke of York.
The province included the district of Newcastle, now Delaware, but the intermediary area of
New Jersey was granted to two of the Duke's favorites who introduced a representative
of Government far more liberal than that of New York in order to encourage rapid settlement,
and the principle of religious liberty, Quakers included, spread through the colonies upon
its triumph in New York and New Jersey.
The accession of English rule in New York touched off the Second Anglo-Dutch War, 1664-67,
The Treaty of Brada, July 1667, formally ceded New Netherland to England. Free trade between
New York and Holland was also agreed upon for a seven-year period. Nichols's successor
as governor, Colonel Francis Lovelace, won the approval of the people in 1668 by abolishing
New York City's two social cast, created by Peter Stuyvesant a decade before. These
These were the great burghers, including government officials, officers of the militia, ministers
and others paying 50 guilders into the city treasury, and the small burghers, including
all others in the city and strangers paying a fee of 25 guilders.
Only great burghers had been eligible for public office and had been exempt from certain
penalties and criminal cases.
The abolition of this caste system was applauded, but the conflict with the Long Island towns
continued and intensified. New York was now the only colony imposing taxes without the
consent of a representative assembly, and the New Englanders on Long Island were used
to far better treatment. As we have seen, the Long Islanders deeply resented the requirement
of paying customs duties at the same rate as New York City. In addition, they protested
bitterly a tax that was levied on them in 1670 by Governor Lovelace to pay for repairs
to the Fort on Manhattan, formerly Fort Amsterdam, now Fort James. The Long Island towns drew
up a remonstrance at Huntington that declared the refusal to pay such a tax and that rested
their case on the time-honored principle of English liberties and of no taxation without
representation. We have seen that a similar tax protest had rung representative government,
albeit an oligarchic one, from Massachusetts in 1631, but now the resistance was dealing
with royal authority. Lovelace denounced the protest as seditious, ordered the signers
In 1673 the embittered eastern Long Island towns of Southampton, Southhold and Easthampton,
Rejected the King for separate English charters for themselves. These rejected, they asked
the King, unsuccessfully, to be allowed to return to the jurisdiction of Connecticut.
Their reasons, the lack of a representative assembly, the lower tax rates in Connecticut,
and their natural trading ties with New England, including exchange of Long Island whale oil
for New England goods.
The cause of discontent lay in New York City. There the government organized the Cartman
into a monopoly cartel or guild. The guild was granted the monopoly of the carting business
in the city. In return, the Carters were forced to work for the city one day a week. As guaranteed
monopolist, the Cartman naturally felt that they no longer had to supply their customers
was with efficient or courteous service, and the courts of the city tried to correct the
matter by threatening to allow non-guild carters to operate, but these threats did not overcome
the unfortunate consequences of the government's original intervention, the guild monopoly.
In New Jersey, the new settlers from New England, used to democratic self-government, quickly
begin chafing at the rule of Governor Philip Cotterat.
Even though the regime was far more liberal than New York's, this was the New Englanders'
first encounter with a proprietary governor and his appointed council, able to veto their
decisions.
When New Jersey's first assembly opened in 1668, trouble began almost immediately as
as the people of Middletown repudiated the election of their deputies, asserting that
it was invalid. Their basic complaint was that the deputies, John Bowne, not the same
Bowne who had led the protest in Flushing, and James Grover violated their liberties
by voting for an onerous five-pound tax on townships. Middletown rested its legal case
on a land grant that had been made to it by Governor Nichols before the proprietary grant
of New Jersey to Berkeley and Cotterette had become known.
Middletown then chose two others as their successors and the nearby townsmen of Shrewsbury
selected still others to replace Bowne and Grover who had also represented them.
But Middletown and Shrewsbury insisted that their representatives add to their oath of
of Allegiance, the proviso that they could recognize the validity of no act impinging
on the liberties of their original patent, which included a seven-year exemption from
township taxes.
The assembly, however, disqualified the proviso, and the next delegates in the two towns refused
to pay the five-pound township tax, and so Middletown prepared for rebellion.
A town meeting in February 1669 ordered its citizens on pain of penalty to aid anyone
resisting removal of their possessions, especially by agents of the assembly.
Middletown acknowledged its allegiance to the king, but disclaimed any interest in or
knowledge of the proprietors.
It also objected to paying any futile quitterance to the proprietors.
had already received the land from Nichols and had purchased it from the Indians.
What did Berkeley and Cotterett have to do with it?
Even before the assembly had met, Governor Cotterett had forbidden Middletown and Shrewsbury
from electing any officials, and now they were warned against exercising any functions.
But Middletown and Shrewsbury, undaunted in the face of being declared in contempt of
of Lawful Authority remained in open defiance of the government and refused to pay the township
tax or quittrant. This was only one of the mounting troubles faced by the New Jersey
authorities. The assembly itself had broken up in disorder when the governor refused to
allow his council and the larger elected assembly to meet in joint session, a meeting that could
would have meant surrender of his veto power.
The former New Netherlands first attempt at a representative assembly had collapsed.
With no continuing assembly and Middletown in tax rebellion, the governor soon found
Elizabethtown joining the fray.
In the spring of 1670, Elizabethtown, maintaining that its land grant from Nichols exempted
refused to pay the quit rent. A further grievance of Elizabeth Town was that
Cotteret, one of its residents, insisted on making town decisions without
consulting the town meeting. For example, Cotteret had revoked the militia
commissions of two popular leaders of the town, Luke Watson and John Woodruff,
because they had disobeyed him. The following year Elizabeth Town engaged in
and more open defiance.
Cotterett, without consulting the town meeting, granted town land to Robert Mitchell, one
of his indentured servants, now at the end of his term.
In protest, the town leaders pulled down Mitchell's fence and part of his house.
Cotterett could do nothing in retaliation, and the son of one of the protesters was defiantly
chosen as town constable.
Finally, a court fined the town leaders for their part of the protest.
Thus, by 1670-71, many of the New Jersey settlements were in revolt against the payment
of quit rent.
The New England settlers, used to absolute private freehold landed property, were not
about to yield supinely to an attempt to impose feudal land tenure upon them.
It is characteristic, however, that Newark, or Newark, the heir of New Haven's absolute
theocracy, did not join in the tax strike. Instead, Newark reaffirmed the renewal of
a solemn agreement to submit to law and authority. By the spring of 1672, a familiar situation
in the history of rebellion had come about. The dynamics of a revolutionary situation
had proceeded beyond its original founders.
On May 14, deputies from all the towns, even Newark, met in a completely illegal and unrecognized
assembly and formed an openly revolutionary government.
All towns were represented except the original rebels, Middletown and Shrewsbury, which decided
to keep ignoring any assemblies.
Of all the towns, only Woodbridge remained in support of the established government.
The Revolutionary Assembly proceeded to elect Captain James Cotterette, the younger son
of the proprietor, as president of the province.
The rallying around Cotterette as the revolutionary leader was, of course, a master stroke.
His family connection was calculated to throw doubt and confusion into anyone loyal to the
proprietary.
On May 28, the governor and the council issued an edict ordering the illegal deputies to
submit to the governor's authority in ten days or face arrest as mutineers.
To ensure the split of Middletown and Shrewsbury from the revolutionary towns, the governor
confirmed their old rights and privileges, including full power to dispose of their granted
and Land, freedom from taxation to support any minister that might be established in
the towns and the privilege to try their own minor cases, but the governor could not end
the rebellion and the revolutionary leader, James Carteret, arrested several of the governor's
key aides. Finally in July the governor fled to New England to seek support against the
and the Rebellion. By the end of 1672, the tide had turned. Arriving from the Duke of
York and from King Charles himself were stern and unmistakable orders that commanded the
New Jersey rebels to submit. The proprietors completely disowned the old Nichols' land
grants, restored the property taken from their aides, ordered the collection of quit-rent
and finally in December the proprietors reinterpreted the concessions so as to restrict many of the home rule rights of the colonists the powers of the governor and council were greatly increased at the expense of the assembly and the towns the New Jersey Rebellion was overruled by the U.S. House of Representatives
By June 1673, James Cotterette, in disgrace, had sailed away. The restored government ordered all the rebels to offer their submissions personally and confined voting in any elections strictly to those holding qualified land titles from the proprietors.
Neither was the West Bank of the Delaware untroubled, although the little settlements were not as persistently rebellious as New Jersey.
The majority of the residents of the Newcastle district were Swedes, and in 1669 many of them rose in rebellion against oppressive English rule.
The revolt was led by Henry Coleman, and especially by Marcus Jacobson, the Long Fin, who in the words of the Governor's indictment, went up and down from one place to another, frequently raising speeches, very seditious and false, tending to the disturbance of His Majesty's peace.
But the uprising proved abortive against overwhelming New York power.
Jacobson was taken to New York in irons, convicted, severely whipped, branded with an R for rebel, and sold into slavery in Barbados.
All the other rebels were forced to surrender to the Crown one half of their funds, and they suffered numerous other fines and levies.
To prevent any repetition of this uprising, Governor Lovelace decided to impose very heavy
taxes on the hapless people of Newcastle so as not to give them liberty to entertain any
other thoughts than how to discharge them.
In 1672, the governor took the precaution of building a fort at Newcastle to guard against
In the summer of 1673, the former provinces of New
New Netherland were unexpectedly reunited and under their old auspices.
The previous year, the Third Anglo-Dutch War had been launched with an attack on the Dutch
by Charles II.
The chief impact of the war on America was the almost bloodless conquest of New York—indeed,
the whole former New Netherland—by the powerful Dutch fleet in August 1673.
The conquest was made easy and virtually bloodless by the enthusiasm of the Dutch inhabitants
of New York City for the return of their countrymen.
The joyous citizens welcomed the Dutch ships and the merchants welcomed trade with Holland
once again.
Immediately, the middle colonies were again renamed.
New York, New Jersey and Newcastle reverted to New Netherland.
New York City was changed to New Orange, Kingston to Swanenburg, Albany to Willemstad, and New
Jersey became Octor Cool. The Dutch officers appointed Captain Anthony Colf as governor
of the reconstructed New Netherland. Colf also appointed Peter Alrich to be the commander
at Newcastle. All English and French property in New Orange was confiscated, especially
the speculative land properties of the former governor Francis Lovelace. Almost all the
inhabitants submitted readily and gratefully to the new rule. The Dutch towns of Brukellen
and Flatbush yielded with special enthusiasm, and even the English towns of Western Long
Island were docile. The major resistance came from the stubborn New England towns of the
East Riding, on Long Island, Southampton, Eastampton, Brookhaven, South Hold and Huntington.
The eastern Long Island towns consistently repeated their basic demands, a popular assembly
and the corollary, no taxation without representation, freedom of trade and confirmation of their
land titles. Governor Kauff was willing to grant such other demands as religious freedom
and Human Equal Rights, rights that belonged also to the Dutch citizens, but concerning
their three basic demands, the towns received no more satisfaction than under Lovelace.
Southampton therefore sent a ringing declaration throughout New England that it was not going
to submit voluntarily to this foreign government. Appealed to by the eastern towns, Governor
Governor Winthrop of Connecticut decided to guarantee their independence and sent troops
into Long Island even though Massachusetts refused to support them. Battles between Connecticut
and Dutch shipping now ensued and Governor Calf was warned by Connecticut in October
1673 to keep away from these towns. The reactivated New England Confederation also threatened
also threatened attacks on New Netherland.
Les Menesine, the colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut,
pledged a mutual defense alliance.
The Eastern Long Islanders also asked that Governor John Winthrop Jr.'s son,
Fitz, be named their commander.
With the help of Connecticut, the Eastern Long Island towns
were able to preserve their virtual independence
and join once again their Connecticut homeland. From October 1673 to April 1674, there was
a series of battles between Connecticut and the towns on the one side and the Dutch on
the other. At the turn of the year, the Dutch raided English shipping and threatened to
plunder the Connecticut coastal towns. In retaliation, the eastern Long Islanders attacked
The West End of the Island, forcing the Dutch farmers again into Fort Amsterdam. Dutch ships
were also driven off by Long Island and Connecticut resistance. In the New Jersey towns, rule
under the Dutch was exercised by the popular or old revolutionary party. Two of its chief
officials were John Ogden, chief scout of the district of Kull, and Samuel Hopkins,
The new Dutch rule did not last long enough to have much direct impact. With the Treaty of Westminster, February 1674, the last of the Anglo-Dutch wars came to a close, and New Netherland was returned to England. From then on, Dutch rule was purely interim.
until the new English governor, Major Edmund Andros, could arrive in November to resume English proprietary rule.
There were, however, important indirect consequences of the final war with Holland.
The Crown lawyers decided that the old grant of the new Netherland area to the Duke of York was now invalid.
Although King Charles re-granted his brother
the area in July, the confusion was enough to induce
Lord Berkeley, who had little interest in New Jersey at best,
to sell his half of the proprietorship in March
1674. Berkeley sold his interest for one thousand pounds
to two English Quakers, Major John Fenwick
and Edward Billinge. This was a landmark in the history of America. From a universally persecuted sect, the Quakers now became a free, sometimes even a dominant group. For a while it seemed that Berkeley's sale was prudent indeed, for the new tables meant new conditions. In August, the Duke of York re-granted New Jersey, but not as a whole. He now gave northern New Jersey
New Jersey, north of the line due west of Barnacat Bay, to Sir George Cotterett. While
granting him the ownership, the new patent did not grant him the sovereign power. The
sale of Berkeley's share was still unrecognized, but the new buyers now laid claim to the southern
portion of New Jersey.
Southern New Jersey was now in limbo. Edward Billinge soon went into bankruptcy, and his
His interest was taken over by three trustees, all Quakers, one of whom was William Penn.
The trustees also persuaded the equally bankrupt Fenwick to sell them ninety percent of his
share for nine hundred pounds.
The ambitious Fenwick promptly organized an expedition and founded a settlement of his
own in southern New Jersey, at Salem, in late 1675.
At this time, there were only a handful of people in southern New Jersey and virtually
no Englishmen.
Having organized the first English settlement, Fenwick forthwith proclaimed himself governor
and sole landowner of the area.
He then brazenly announced his terms for selling the land to settlers, one pound per 1,000
acres.
Those who bought more than 1,000 acres were to be freeholders with the right to vote for
for a Council of Twelve to help Fenwick rule.
For having one's passage paid by Fenwick, a person was to be an indentured servant for
four years and receive one hundred acres at the end of the term.
Every freeholder was to pay Fenwick an annual feudal quit-rent of one penny per acre.
All this was to be Fenwick's, as his supposed tenth share of the Southern New Jersey proprietorship.
In short order, Fenwick sold 148,000 acres to 50 purchasers, most of them Quakers.
Unsurprisingly, Fenwick came quickly into conflict with the handful of Dutch settlers
in the area.
Led by the Reverend Mr. Fabricius, these settlers refused to serve in the corvée, the compulsory
labor force to work on the roads, a common practice in the colonies.
To break this mass refusal, several arrests were made, and Rev. Mr. Fabricius was forcibly
suspended from his duties.
The trustees naturally denounced Fenwick's assumption of power as illegal, and in July
1676, they were able to persuade Sir George Cotterett to sign the Quintipartite Deed granting
Following the trustees at all the lands of New Jersey, south and west of a new partition
line which ran from Barnagat Bay Northwest to the Delaware River. For one thing, William
Penn was a close friend of the Duke of York, and Cotteray wished to cement his rather shaky
title by coming to an agreement with Penn. The trustees now had a clear, official title
to a larger, though uninhabited, area, called West New Jersey, while Cotterett's area was
called East New Jersey. As part of the imminent crackdown on Fenwick, his 10% was granted
in the deed not to Fenwick himself, but to his mortgageors, John Eldridge and Edward
Warner, who had financed his expedition. Fenwick was arrested in late 1676 for assuming governmental
for assuming governmental functions as Lord Proprietor, and especially for divesting existing
settlers of his lands in order to sell them for his own gain.
Fenwick was convicted by the Court of Assises in New York, but released on parole after
After Paying a Modest Fine.