Edmund Andros

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Andros, Sir Edmund ˈændrǝs (1637-1714) royal governor of the province of New York and New Jersey (1674-81), born in London. Andros was also the royal governor-general of the Dominion of New England (1686) and the governor of the provinces of Virginia (1692-98) and of Maryland (1693-94). In the service of James Stuart, duke of York, Andros came to New York following England's defeat of the Netherlands (1674) to claim the duke's lands from the Dutch (including Manhattan, Long Island, Staten Island, the Hudson valley to Albany, and the Jersies). He transformed the administration of New York from the Dutch to an English model and negotiated stabilizing treaties with the Iroquois.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Sir Edmund Andros (1637-1714), an English colonial governor in America, was an able though arbitrary administrator. Because his regime conflicted with the interests of colonial Puritan leaders, he became a symbol of oppression.

Edmund Andros was born in London on Dec. 6, 1637. He was descended from the feudal aristocracy of Guernsey, and his father was master of ceremonies in Charles l's court. The family was royalist during England's civil war, and Andros served in the army following the Restoration. In 1666 he went as a major with an infantry regiment to protect the British West Indies against the Dutch. Six years later he became a landgrave in Carolina colony but showed little interest in the venture, possibly because, on his father's death in 1674, he became both bailiff of Guernsey and governor of the Duke of York's American possessions.

Though plagued by controversy with proprietors in New Jersey, Dutch settlers resenting British regulations, and boundary problems with Connecticut, Andros governed New York with reasonable success, particularly in defending its Indian frontier and in gaining Iroquois friendship. Yet friction with the colonists increased, and, though an investigation later cleared Andros of charges of financial irregularities and favoritism in trading licenses, he was recalled to England. His knighting in 1681 and other honors show that he was still esteemed by the royal family. After the Duke of York became James II, Andros was named head of the Dominion of New England on June 3, 1686.

The attempt to merge England's separate northern colonies into a single dominion was extremely unpopular in America, and Andros's reputation has suffered accordingly. New England colonists never appreciated the need for consolidating defenses against the French and Indians, and they especially begrudged replacing their own representative assemblies with a single, appointive, advisory council. (Their resistance to this council's reimposition of existing taxes was quickly suppressed.) At first the merchants and large landholders supported Andros, but his vigorous enforcement of the Navigation Acts, his efforts to eliminate piracy, refusal to promote land speculation, and insistence on confirmation of land titles alienated them. Puritan clergymen, outraged when he permitted Episcopal services in Boston, plotted a rebellion. When the news came that William of Orange had landed in England, the Bostonians arose and captured Andros and several Dominion officials. After lengthy delays the prisoners were sent to England, where the charges against them were never pressed.

William and Mary needed competent subordinates and so named Andros governor of Virginia in 1692; thus he eventually served as executive for every royal province on the American mainland. To Virginia he brought the charter establishing William and Mary College. Though Commissary James Blair believed him unconcerned about the college and established church, Andros was an industrious and respected administrator; Edward Randolph called his the only good government in America. Resigning over differences with Blair, Andros returned to England in 1698, served for a time as governor of Jersey island, and died in London on Feb. 27, 1714. Although he was impatient, skeptical of democracy, and unable to understand Puritans, he had been a conscientious and generally capable official.

Further Reading

Nearly every history of the colonial period deals with Andros and the Dominion, but Viola F. Barnes, The Dominion of New England (1923), is most satisfactory. The Andros Tracts, edited by W. H. Whitmore (3 vols., 1868-1874), and Charles M. Andrews, Narratives of the Insurrections, 1675-1690 (1915), provide additional insight. See also Gerard B. Warden, Boston, 1689-1776 (1970).

Sir Edmund Andros
Governor of the Dominion of New England
In office December 20, 1686 – April 18, 1689
Preceded by	Joseph Dudley
Succeeded by	Simon Bradstreet (as Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony)
Born	December 6, 1637 London, England
Died	February 24, 1714 (aged 76) London, England
Religion	Anglican
Signature

Sir Edmund Andros (December 6, 1637 - February 24, 1714) was an early colonial English governor in North America, and head of the short-lived Dominion of New England.

Andros was born in London on December 6, 1637, son of Amice Andros, an adherent of Charles I and Bailiff of Guernsey. He served for a short time in the army of Prince Henry of Nassau, and in 1660-1662 was gentleman in ordinary to the queen of Bohemia, Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I of England. He then served against the Dutch, and in 1672 was commissioned major in what is said to have been the first English regiment armed with the bayonet. Two years later he succeeded his father as bailiff of Guernsey.

In 1674 he became, by the appointment of the Duke of York (who later became James II), governor of the Province of New York and the Jerseys, though his jurisdiction over the Jerseys was disputed, and until his recall in 1681 to meet an unfounded charge of dishonesty and favouritism in the collection of the revenues, he proved himself to be a capable administrator.

The Puritans of New England disapproved of Christmas and celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. Andros revoked the ban by the Pilgrims in 1681, and he also revoked their ban against festivities on Saturday night. However it wasn't until the mid 1800's that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.^[1]

His imperious disposition, rendered him quite unpopular among the colonists. Anthony Brockholls was acting Governor from 1681 to 1683 until Thomas Dongan arrived in America. Dongan remained at the post until 1688 when Andros returned to the post and remained until 1689.

As Andros was Governor of the Dominion of New England, day to day activities in New York were assigned to Lieutenant Governor Francis Nicholson from 1688 to 1689.

"Andros a Prisoner in Boston" as depicted in "Pioneers in the Settlement of America" Vol. 1, by William A. Crafts (1876)

During a visit to England in 1678 he was knighted. In 1686 he became governor of the Dominion of New England, taking Boston as his capital. The Dominion initially consisted of Massachusetts (including Maine), Plymouth Colony, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire, and was extended to include New York and the Jerseys in 1688.

He practiced an arbitrary government in which he limited the legislature, restricted towns to a single annual meeting, and enforced toleration of Anglicans and the Navigation Acts. Andros angered the Puritan colonists of Boston by openly affiliating with the Church of England. They were also angered by his noisy, "sinning" soldiers. His most vexing action, however, was his rampant interference with colonial laws and customs.

Therefore, on April 18, 1689, soon after news reached Boston of the overthrow of James II in England, the colonists violently rioted. They ran him out of town and caught him attempting to escape in women's clothing. He was spotted as a man solely because his boots showed underneath the dress. He was arrested by Jonas Bond of Watertown, a militia Colonel, Justice of the Peace and member of the General Court. The Bonds, Jonas and his father William (soon elected Speaker of the General Court), were members of the Church of England but sided with the colonists. In New York his deputy, Francis Nicholson, was soon afterward deposed by Jacob Leisler; and the inter-colonial union was dissolved.

Andros was sent to England for trial in 1690, but was immediately released without trial, and from 1692 until 1698 he was governor of Virginia, until being recalled through the agency of Commissary James Blair, with whom he quarreled. In 1693-1694 he was also governor of Maryland. From 1704 to 1706 he was governor of Guernsey. He died in London on February 24, 1714 and was buried at St. Anne's, Soho.

Andros remains a notorious figure in New England, especially in Connecticut. While Connecticut officially excludes him from its list of colonial governors, his portrait does hang in the Hall of Governors in the State Museum across from the State Capitol in Hartford.

Andros had a wife who predeceased him, dying in Boston in February 1688.

It is believed that Andros Island in the Bahamas was named for Edmund Andros, who served as Commander of His Majesty’s Forces in Barbados in 1672.

References

1. ^ When Christmas Was Banned - The early colonies and Christmas

• The Andros tracts: being a collection of pamphlets and official papers issued during the period between the overthrow of the Andros government and the establishment of the second charter of Massachusetts. (1868-1874). Boston, The Prince society.
•  "Andros, Sir Edmund". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

Government offices
Preceded by Anthony Colve	Governor of the Province of New York and the Jerseys February 11, 1674 – April 18, 1683	Succeeded by Simon Bradstreet
Preceded by Thomas Dongan	Governor of the Province of New York and the Jerseys 1688 – April 18, 1689	Succeeded by Francis Nicholson
Preceded by Joseph Dudley	Governor of the Dominion of New England December 20, 1686 – April 18, 1689	Succeeded by Simon Bradstreet
Preceded by 5th Baron Howard of Effingham	Colonial Governor of Virginia 1692-1698	Succeeded by Francis Nicholson
Preceded by Sir Thomas Lawrence	Proprietary Governor of Maryland 1693	Succeeded by Colonel Nicholas Greenberry
Preceded by Colonel Nicholas Greenberry	Proprietary Governor of Maryland 1694	Succeeded by Sir Thomas Lawrence

External links

• official Massachusetts Governor biography

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