The Glorious Revolution in America: Documents on the Colonial Crisis of 1689

234 Pages·1964·13.572 MB·English

by  Michael G. Hall

THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION
IN AMERICA
The Institute of Early American History and Culture is sponsored jointly by
the College of William and Mary and Colonial Williamsburgj Incorporated.
DOCUMENTARY PROBLEMS IN EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY
James Morton Smith, General Editor
Prologue to Revolution
Sources and Documents on the Stamp Act Crisis, 1764-1766
Edited by Edmund S. Morgan
Massachusetts, Colony to Commonwealth
Documents on the Formation of Its Constitution, 1775-1780
Edited by Robert J. Taylor
The Glorious Revolution in America
Documents on the Colonial Crisis of 1689
Edited by Michael G. Hall,
Lawrence H. Leder, and Michael G. Kammen
The Glorious Revolution
In America
DOCUMENTS ON THE COLONIAL
CRISIS OF 1689
Edited by
Michael G. Hall, Lawrence H. Leder,
and Michael G. Kammen
Published for the
INSTITUTE OF EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE
AT WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA
by
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS • CHAPEL HILL
Copyright © 1964 by
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 64-13552
PRINTED BY THE WILLIAM BYRD PRESS, INC., RICHMOND, VA.
Manufactured in the United States of America
THIS BOOK WAS DIGITALLY PRINTED.
PREFACE
IF the editors of this volume, the third in the Documentary Problems
in Early American History, agreed upon any one thing at the very
outset of their collaboration, it was the need to make available to their
students the raw materials of one of the most exciting and crucial
episodes in the first century of the nation's creation. The assignment of
textbooks and monographs serves a valuable purpose by giving the stu-
dent a view of either the whole scope of history or a particular phase of
it. But it is a predigested view. Moreover, it is an exceptional text or
monograph that can stimulate a student's intellectual inquisitiveness
and appetite for historical knowledge. For this, teachers are turning
more and more toward controllable collections of primary source ma-
terials. By working with the basic stuff of history, the student can
formulate his own conclusions and interpretations; he can become, in
at least a limited sense, his own historian.
Through study and analysis of the documents that follow, the student
can participate in the events of the Glorious Revolution, reconstruct
them, appreciate the subtle and often conflicting issues involved, and
derive conclusions substantiated by evidence. Of particular advantage
is the gathering together, from a multitude of sources, documents that
would otherwise be unavailable because of their scarcity or because of
the time that would be consumed. Grappling with the same range of
documents that would confront the professional historian, the student
acquires both substantive knowledge and an ability to exercise historical
methodology with discernment and skill. Thus he can better appreciate
the general complexity that faces the historian as he analyzes men and
events.
The Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 is particularly suited to this ap-
proach. Its significance in English history is well known: Roman
Catholicism, James II, and divine right monarchy gave way to the
broadly based Protestant Church of England, William and Mary, and
constitutional monarchy sharply limited by Parliament. Much less fa-
miliar, however, are the consequences of those events for the American
V
vi PREFACE
colonies. Simultaneous revolutions occurred in Massachusetts Bay,
New York, and Maryland, and these molded the course of development
in all the colonies for generations to come. Out of the Glorious Revolu-
tion in America emerged an altered pattern of relationships of the
colonies to one another and to the mother country. Out of this turmoil
developed the framework of the eighteenth-century British Empire.
The problems raised by these local upheavals are of far-reaching
significance. What caused the rebellions? How were they connected to
the larger movement in England? What characteristics did they share
in common and what differentiated them? What changes did they effect
and how were Anglo-colonial bonds reshaped for the eighteenth cen-
tury? What conception did the rebels hold of their own insurrections
and of the nature and uses of public authority? What is the character of
a revolutionary movement? Is it a hankering after Utopia, or may it also
seek to retrieve the conditions of a bygone time?
These are some of the questions posed by the colonial crises of 1689,
the answers to which are latent in the documents that follow. This selec-
tion of sources has been designed to suggest the many dimensions of
revolution and revolutionary change: political, social, economic, and
diplomatic. In illustrating the origins and outcome of ferment in
seventeenth-century America the sources are balanced—wherever pos-
sible—to present the various views that prevailed among contempo-
raries. Moreover, public and private papers have been intermixed; for
what is only alluded to in a formal dispatch may have been amply
treated in a personal letter. Similarly the overblown claims of a public
pronouncement may be deflated in a candid communication between
political allies.
The editors hope that a collection bringing together materials on
the several rebellions of 1689 will prove helpful to scholars as well as
students. Many of the documents are not readily available, and several
are printed here for the first time. In preparing them we have followed
the "expanded method" described in the Harvard Guide to American
History as much as possible, generally reproducing the spelling, capi-
talization, and punctuation of the document cited, but spelling out most
abbreviations and occasionally adding punctuation for clarity. In one
very illiterate document (No. 23 C), however, the spelling and punctua-
tion have been modernized to make the text more readily understanda-
ble. In some cases, paragraphs have been broken up for readability. The
new year has been treated as beginning January i for consistency in
dating.
The unit on Massachusetts Bay has been edited by Michael G. Hall,
that on New York by Lawrence H. Leder, and the Maryland section by
Michael G. Kammen. The editors must acknowledge their great debt
to James Morton Smith, editor of publications at the Institute of Early
PREFACE Vll
American History and Culture, and Susan Lee Foard, assistant editor.
They were wonderfully diligent as co-ordinators, smoothing out the
many rough spots involved in a joint venture. Without their good-na-
tured prodding, patience, and constructive efforts, this volume would
not now be in the readers' hands. However, all three editors assume col-
lective responsibility for the work in its entirety.
Michael G. Hall would also thank for their unfailing help and per-
mission to publish material on Massachusetts: Mr. Joseph D. Ward,
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Dr. Richard Walden
Hale, archivist, and Mr. Leo Flaherty of the Massachusetts Archives;
Miss Norma Cuthbert of the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art
Gallery, San Marino, California; Dr. Stephen T. Riley of the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society; and Dr. Clifford K. Shipton of the American
Antiquarian Society. For typing the documents, he wishes to thank Mrs.
Beverly M. Schell and Mrs. Patricia C. Blatt.
Lawrence H. Leder wishes to express his gratitude to a number of
people and their staffs who have assisted by making materials available:
Mr. Herman Kahn, formerly director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Library at Hyde Park, New York; Mr. Wilbur Leech of The New-York
Historical Society; Miss Norma Cuthbert of the Henry E. Huntington
Library and Art Gallery; and Dr. Lester J. Cappon of the Institute of
Early American History and Culture. Personal thanks are also due
Professors Wesley Frank Craven of Princeton University and Brooke
Hindle of New York University. Bernice Kadish Leder has been of in-
valuable help in the preparation of the materials.
For their gracious help and for permission to publish documents in
their custody, Michael G. Kammen wishes to thank the following per-
sons: Dr. M. L. Radoff and Mrs. A. R. Clark of the Hall of Records,
Annapolis; Mr. M. W. Waring of the Land Office, Annapolis; Mr. J. D.
Kilbourne and Mr. T. S. Eader of the Maryland Historical Society,
Baltimore; Dr. Elizabeth Merritt, editor of the Archives of Maryland;
Mr. R. W. Hill of the New York Public Library; Mr. Philip F. Det-
weiler, managing editor of the Journal of Southern History, for per-
mission to publish document No. 61, which is copyrighted by the
Southern Historical Association; Mr. E. W. Beitzell, editor of the
Chronicles of St. Mary's, and Mr. Charles Fenwick, president of the
St. Mary's County Historical Society, for a wonderful journey retrac-
ing the road to revolution. Carol Koyen Kammen was endlessly help-
ful, particularly as paleographer in transcribing some difficult seven-
teenth-century scripts.
Michael G. Hall Austin, Texas
Lawrence H. Leder New Orleans, Louisiana
Michael G. Kammen Cambridge, Massachusetts
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CONTENTS
Preface v
Prologue: THE COLONIAL CRISIS OF 1689 3
PARTI
THE OVERTHROW OF THE DOMINION OF NEW ENGLAND
Chapter I: SEEDS OF DISCONTENT 9
Who Shall Rule in New England
1. The General Court Reports on Massachusetts' Allegiance to the
Crown, June 10, 1661 12
2. Royal Commissioners Assert the Sovereignty of the King, April 23,
1664 14
3. Massachusetts Rejects the Jurisdiction of English Laws, September
20, 1676 18
4. The General Court Writes Its Own Navigation Act
A. The Magistrates Draft a Bill Recognizing the Authority of
Parliament, February 24, 1682 20
B. The House of Deputies Denies Parliament's Authority, Feb-
ruary 23, 1682 21
5. Massachusetts Refuses to Surrender Its Charter for Revision
A. Samuel Nowell to John Richards, March 28, 1683 22
B. Increase Mather's Argument, 1683 23
6. The Grounds for Revoking the Colonial Charter, June 4,1683 24
Establishment of the Dominion of New England
7. Sir Edmund Andros' Commission as Governor, April 7, 1688 25
8. The Uncertainty of Land Tenure
A. Samuel Sewall's Difficulties, 1687-88
1. The Dominion Questions Sewall's Title to Hogg Island 27
2. Sewall's Petition to Governor Andros 28
3. Sewall Complains to Increase Mather in London 28
ix
X CONTENTS
B. Edward Randolph Tries to Grab Land in Cambridge, 1688
1. The Council Cooperates 29
2. The Inhabitants of Cambridge Petition the Council 29
9. Grievances Against the Governor, 1687-89 30
Chapter II: THE PATTERN OF REBELLION 37
Insurrection Accomplished
10. Samuel Mather's Account of the Preliminary to Revolt, April 1689 39
11. Samuel Prince's Account, April 22, 1689 4°
The Justification
12. The Boston Declaration of Grievances, April 18, 1689 42
13. Nathanael Byfield's Account of the Insurrection, April 29, 1689 46
14. The Puritan Leaders Justify Their Actions, June 6, 1689 48
Chapter III: THE CONSEQUENCES OF REBELLION 54
The Indictment of the Dominion of New England
15. The Grievances of the Township of Lynn, May 24, 1689 56
16. The Committee of Seven's Charges Against Dominion Officials, 1689
A. The Charges Against Sir Edmund Andros, Governor 57
B. The Charges Against Joseph Dudley, Member of the Council 59
C. The Charges Against Edward Randolph, Secretary and
Registrar 60
D. The Charges Against John West, Deputy Secretary 60
E. The Charges Against John Palmer, Judge 61
Problems of the Revolutionary Government
17. The Attempt to Form an Interim Government
A. Edward Randolph Writes to England from the Boston Jail,
July 20, 1689 63
B. Randolph Reports More from New England, October 8, 1689 64
English Reaction to the Rebellion
18. The London Civil Servant's View, March 23, 1689 67
19. Massachusetts' Agent Describes Events in London, October 16, 1690 69
Winning a New Charter
20. The Role of Increase Mather, 1691 75
21. The Massachusetts Charter of 1691 76