WEBVTT NOTE 51. The Rule of Joseph Dudley and the Council of New England 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 Volume 1, Chapter 51, The Rule of Joseph Dudley and the Council of New England 2 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:15.000 During the year 1684, while Randolph, Dudley and their allies were happily spinning plans for the government of New England 3 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:25.000 after the abolition of the Massachusetts Charter, the Lords of Trade made their own modifications of the Randolph-Dudley Plan of the year before. 4 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:35.000 Their proposal, though very similar, provided that royal despotism be stripped of even the thin facade of home rule allowed by Randolph and Dudley. 5 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:48.000 In the Lord's plan, the Governor General and the Council for New England would all be appointed, the latter to be appointed, of course, by the Governor, and unchecked by any representative assembly. 6 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:54.120 of the Assembly. Governor and Council would have full power to legislate, adjudicate, 7 00:00:54.120 --> 00:01:01.120 tax, regulate trade, foster the Church of England and impose a system of quitterance. 8 00:01:01.360 --> 00:01:08.360 In short, it was a fully centralized royal despotism over all of New England. The characteristic 9 00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:15.960 Tory regime of this era, imposing throne, altar, mercantilism, big government and feudalism 10 00:01:15.960 --> 00:01:22.920 and Feudalism was to be imposed upon the one area in America that had been self-governing 11 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:29.160 and blissfully free of most of these elements. Since the Rhode Island and Connecticut charters 12 00:01:29.160 --> 00:01:35.400 were still in operation, the Lord's initial plan was to begin with one royal government 13 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:43.000 from Massachusetts, including Maine, New Hampshire, and after study of the Cranfield Report, the 14 00:01:43.000 --> 00:02:13.000 The Narragansett country. The Narragansett lands were to be detached from Rhode Island and joined to the expanded Massachusetts. The Governor General would confirm all land titles upon payment of quit rent. The Lords of Trade then decided to add Plymouth to the expanded Massachusetts and looked forward to adding Rhode Island and Connecticut, should their charters be abrogated. No sooner had the Massachusetts Charter been dissolved at the end 15 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:19.800 At the end of October, however, then a grave blow fell on the carefully constructed plan. 16 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:25.340 The king suddenly decided to appoint as royal governor of Massachusetts the notoriously 17 00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:29.300 brutal Colonel Percy Kirk. 18 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:36.780 At this juncture, with all plans in limbo, Charles II died in early February 1685 and 19 00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:43.780 and was succeeded by his brother James II, a Roman Catholic and High Tory. 20 00:02:43.780 --> 00:02:50.960 James, in a frenzy to eliminate all independent and proprietary colonies and to change them 21 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:58.220 to outright royal colonies, began co-war and toe proceedings against several colonial 22 00:02:58.220 --> 00:03:03.800 charters with Randolph enthusiastically drawing up the charges against Connecticut and Rhode 23 00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:11.600 Island. The plans for a new expanded Massachusetts government were temporarily postponed in order 24 00:03:11.600 --> 00:03:19.400 to settle the problems of a new reign. But finally in September 1685, James II decreed 25 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:26.120 the governmental form that the new royal colony of Massachusetts would take. The new royal 26 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:32.960 colony was to be the dominion of New England, a colony made up of the former colonies of 27 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:39.960 Massachusetts and New Hampshire and the Narragansett Country. Ruling over the Dominion was to be 28 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:47.520 a grand council, appointed by the Crown, and drawn from residents of all the previous colonies. 29 00:03:48.880 --> 00:03:54.720 Secretary and Registrar of the Dominion was Edward Randolph, whose suggestions for the 30 00:03:54.720 --> 00:04:00.300 council had all been accepted by King James. Chosen as President of the Council was Joseph 31 00:04:00.300 --> 00:04:06.740 with Dudley. The appointment of Colonel Kirk had fallen through and the Randolph-Dudley 32 00:04:06.740 --> 00:04:13.020 clique was now in complete control. With the exception of Connecticut and Rhode Island, 33 00:04:13.020 --> 00:04:19.100 takeover of the colonies was now complete. There would now be no representative assembly 34 00:04:19.100 --> 00:04:26.260 to block the clique's path to power and plunder. The triumphant Randolph was now reconfirmed 35 00:04:26.260 --> 00:04:32.180 in his Old Commission of Collector of Customs. His royal salary and fees were considerably 36 00:04:32.180 --> 00:04:38.780 increased and he also acquired the royal offices of Auditor for New England, Deputy Postmaster 37 00:04:38.780 --> 00:04:46.020 General and Surveyor of the New England Woods. The Dudley-Randolph government took office 38 00:04:46.020 --> 00:04:53.580 in Boston after Randolph arrived in the end of May 1686. The Dudley council was to rule 39 00:04:53.580 --> 00:05:05.580 The New Governing Council of the Dominion of New England was an instructive collection of all the leading pro-English opportunists in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 40 00:05:23.580 --> 00:05:49.140 Of these counselors all resided in Massachusetts proper except Mason and Hinks who resided 41 00:05:49.140 --> 00:05:54.980 in New Hampshire, Champernown and Edward Ting, who came from the main towns, and Fitz-John 42 00:05:54.980 --> 00:05:57.860 Winthrop of King's Province. 43 00:05:57.860 --> 00:06:05.560 Of these, however, Saltonstall, Champernown, and the Bradstreet's refused to serve. 44 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:12.440 The latter two, because the office was, a thing contrived to abridge them of their liberty, 45 00:06:12.440 --> 00:06:15.140 and indeed against the Magna Carta. 46 00:06:15.140 --> 00:06:22.720 Meanwhile, how did once proud Massachusetts react to the stunning news of its demise? 47 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:28.900 The popular opposition party remained in power as the blow fell and stubbornly refused to 48 00:06:28.900 --> 00:06:35.300 make a formal submission. It even proceeded to indict a man for saying that the Massachusetts 49 00:06:35.300 --> 00:06:42.860 government no longer existed. But Randolph's arrival in May put a stop to these proceedings. 50 00:06:42.860 --> 00:06:49.860 The General Court had decided on non-violent civil disobedience, not revolting, but refusing 51 00:06:49.860 --> 00:06:55.820 to consent to the new arrangement. Understandably, the Court was particularly exercised over 52 00:06:55.820 --> 00:07:01.940 the elimination of a representative assembly and of its sole right to levy taxes. But this 53 00:07:01.940 --> 00:07:08.380 did not faze Randolph and Dudley, who successfully proceeded to ignore the General Court and 54 00:07:08.380 --> 00:07:11.540 and to assume the reins of government. 55 00:07:11.540 --> 00:07:17.580 On May 25, the Dudley Council assumed office over Massachusetts and New Hampshire and quickly 56 00:07:17.580 --> 00:07:21.180 began to make its impact upon New England. 57 00:07:21.180 --> 00:07:27.120 The Dudley regime had been accurately termed a feast of political privilege for the members 58 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:29.400 of the new ruling clique. 59 00:07:29.400 --> 00:07:34.500 Dudley and his relatives took care to grant themselves large tracts of vacant land and 60 00:07:34.500 --> 00:07:40.260 to assign to themselves and their friends all the government offices having any degree 61 00:07:40.260 --> 00:07:48.260 of patronage or influence. In this spirit, they determined legal fees, imports, and duties, 62 00:07:48.260 --> 00:07:53.880 selected ports of entry, exempted themselves from town taxation, and had themselves paid 63 00:07:53.880 --> 00:08:00.320 handsomely for these services to themselves. The ruling clique was composed mostly of merchants 64 00:08:00.320 --> 00:08:11.320 Richard Wharton, counselor, had married the first cousin of Dudley's wife, and had later married Martha Winthrop, sister of Fitzjohn, and Waite Winthrop. 65 00:08:11.320 --> 00:08:17.320 Edward Palms, made a Justice of the Peace, had married another Winthrop sister, Lucy. 66 00:08:17.320 --> 00:08:25.320 Edward and Jonathan Ting, who had been married for a long time, had been married for a long time. 67 00:08:25.320 --> 00:08:55.320 Edward and Jonathan Ting were the brothers of Dudley's wife, Rebecca. The Dudley clique happily engaged in their feast of privilege. Dudley, Wharton, the Winthrop's and others banded together to secure themselves a grant to the vast million-acre purchase of the Merrimack River, a territory that included consolidation of previous arbitrary land claims and dubious Indian privilege. 68 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:57.400 Purchases. 69 00:08:57.400 --> 00:09:02.380 To facilitate the granting of governmental powers over the area, the Council formed the 70 00:09:02.380 --> 00:09:08.960 Merrimack Land into a new Merrimack County, and these grants were secured by giving both 71 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:15.680 William Blathewaite and Edward Randolph shares in the new company. 72 00:09:15.680 --> 00:09:20.640 But it took only a few weeks in office for Edward Randolph to become disenchanted with 73 00:09:20.640 --> 00:09:27.360 of the Dudley regime, for he saw, to his horror, that the opportunist clique was interested 74 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:33.880 far more in using power to gain privileges for itself than in regulating and taxing its 75 00:09:33.880 --> 00:09:41.720 fellow citizens to benefit the English crown. In general, this was an easy-going regime. 76 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:48.360 In his inaugural address, Dudley had promised a transition as plain and easy as possible. 77 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:53.240 Indeed, many of the old office holders were reappointed by the Council. 78 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:57.960 Only a few men were hauled before the Council for contempt and only one was imprisoned for 79 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:00.200 voicing sedition. 80 00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:05.220 Some of the Puritans were scandalized at the appearance of Anglican services and the use 81 00:10:05.220 --> 00:10:13.220 of the Anglican prayer book and by the high-handed wickedness of non-Puritans in Boston, drinking 82 00:10:13.220 --> 00:10:18.620 and Talking Profanely and Bodily to the Great Disturbance of the Town and Grief of Good 83 00:10:18.620 --> 00:10:20.140 People. 84 00:10:20.140 --> 00:10:27.320 But the Council, to Randolph's chagrin, did not foster the Church of England actively. 85 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:32.540 Randolph also grumbled about the paucity of Anglicans in high office in the Dominion. 86 00:10:32.540 --> 00:10:38.140 On the Council, only he and Mason were Anglicans, and only a handful of the more than sixty 87 00:10:38.140 --> 00:10:43.180 officers of the militia were not Puritan Church members. 88 00:10:43.180 --> 00:10:47.700 Randolph also found himself losing out in the division of the patronage spoils to the 89 00:10:47.700 --> 00:10:52.620 numerous relatives of the Dudley-Warton clique. 90 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:58.340 Randolph's chagrin was also directed to the alleged failure of this merchant-ruling group 91 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:03.620 to enforce the Navigation Acts with the enthusiasm that he felt was required. 92 00:11:03.620 --> 00:11:10.740 Dudley, however, had really proceeded auspiciously from the Randolph point of view, quickly launching 93 00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:17.460 and the Radical Innovation of Trying Navigation Act Violations in newly constituted Admiralty 94 00:11:17.460 --> 00:11:24.540 Courts. These were royal prerogative courts that decided cases outside the safeguards 95 00:11:24.540 --> 00:11:31.540 of jury trial and of the features of the common law. In this way, the government could bypass 96 00:11:31.540 --> 00:11:38.400 the checks of jury trial. Dudley worked out the stratagem with Samuel Peeps, Secretary 97 00:11:38.400 --> 00:11:44.820 of the Naval Board in England, and in only two weeks had condemned three ships. But the 98 00:11:44.820 --> 00:11:51.820 implacable Randolph was not satisfied. Riding home, he denounced Dudley as a man of base, 99 00:11:52.560 --> 00:11:59.560 servile and anti-monarchal principle, and portrayed Wharton as a smuggler and a seditionary 100 00:11:59.560 --> 00:12:05.400 who had criticized his, Randolph's, appointment to the Secretariat as intended to enthrall 101 00:12:05.400 --> 00:12:08.500 of this People in Vassalage. 102 00:12:08.500 --> 00:12:13.400 Actually the root of Randolph's carping was the fact that Dudley allowed the naval commander 103 00:12:13.400 --> 00:12:20.900 as well as Randolph to initiate actions enforcing the navigation laws, thus depriving Randolph 104 00:12:20.900 --> 00:12:26.480 of the financial rewards for the commander's successful suits. 105 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:32.280 Above all, Randolph chafed at the failure of the council to adopt his cherished goal 106 00:12:32.280 --> 00:12:40.440 of Imposing a Drastic Program of Despotism and Plunder, run by himself, on the Dominion. 107 00:12:40.440 --> 00:12:46.440 Randolph wanted to replace the county officers registering land titles with one central office, 108 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:53.480 his own, where everyone, for a handsome fee, would be forced to register his land title. 109 00:12:53.480 --> 00:12:59.320 When the council refused this attempted grab, Randolph cried out in righteous indignation 110 00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:11.640 Randolph went on to propose a grand compulsory registry of all persons over sixteen, the 111 00:13:11.640 --> 00:13:17.320 forced licensing of all ministers, and the requirement that all ministers must have the 112 00:13:17.320 --> 00:13:24.440 approval of the Governor to assume their post, in short, a virtual Anglican establishment 113 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:30.400 and Restriction of Non-Anglican Services in the Dominion. 114 00:13:30.400 --> 00:13:38.400 These proposals, too, were rebuffed. To Randolph, this was base ingratitude by his own creatures, 115 00:13:38.400 --> 00:13:46.400 whom he had elevated to state power. Randolph now found that his erstwhile allies were individuals 116 00:13:46.400 --> 00:13:52.800 who agree in nothing but sharing the country amongst themselves and laying out long tracts 117 00:13:52.800 --> 00:14:01.800 and who believed that this change was intended only to advantage them rather than Randolph or the Crown. 118 00:14:01.800 --> 00:14:07.800 Of all the counselors, only Usher and Stoughton now met with his approval. 119 00:14:07.800 --> 00:14:17.800 One saving grace of the Dudley administration, a grace that worked to keep its power relatively weak, was scarcity of funds. 120 00:14:17.800 --> 00:14:23.800 Virtually its only meager sources of supply were the excise on liquors and fees. 121 00:14:23.800 --> 00:14:29.800 It did not dare levy any direct taxes without having the approval of an assembly. 122 00:14:29.800 --> 00:14:40.800 As partners in the Atherton Company, counselors Fitzjohn and Waite Winthrop were largely interested in finally seizing control of the Narragansett country, 123 00:14:40.800 --> 00:14:44.800 now incorporated into the dominion of New England. 124 00:14:44.800 --> 00:14:53.800 The Council, which included several other partners of the Atherton Company, promptly moved to implement the Cranfield Report of three years earlier. 125 00:14:53.800 --> 00:15:07.800 At the end of June, Dudley, Fitzjohn Winthrop, Randolph and Wharton traveled to Kingston in King's Province and reorganized the whole government of the Narragansett country. 126 00:15:07.800 --> 00:15:14.840 They proclaimed that absolute ownership of the land belonged to the Atherton Proprietors, 127 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:20.520 and announced that anyone settling on these lands without the permission of these arbitrarily 128 00:15:20.520 --> 00:15:25.840 decreed Proprietors would have to purchase or rent the land. 129 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:31.520 Rhode Island dared not contest this naked seizure of its territory, its life being under 130 00:15:31.520 --> 00:15:36.080 the continuing threat of Quo Warento action. 131 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:41.560 The proprietors quickly began to exploit this windfall by selling a tract of land to a group 132 00:15:41.560 --> 00:15:48.520 of French Huguenot refugees at 20 pounds for 100 acres. 133 00:15:48.520 --> 00:15:55.040 Finally in December 1686, the complexion of New England and the northern colonies underwent 134 00:15:55.040 --> 00:15:56.960 another change. 135 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:05.100 Sir Edmund Andros arrived in Boston to assume the rule of an expanded, far more centralized 136 00:16:05.100 --> 00:16:11.820 and Crown-Oriented Dominion of New England. The history of the Northern Colonies was entering 137 00:16:11.820 --> 00:16:13.540 anew and fateful.