Dummer sought to be generally conciliatory in his dealings with the provincial legislature, tolerating, for example, the selection of Elisha Cooke (who had led the opposition to Shute) as speaker of the assembly.
He finessed the assembly's attempts to interfere with management of the militia by organizing expeditions when the body was not in session, earning the enmity of opponents when it did meet.
 The assembly refused to appropriate funds to pay soldier salaries, leading to a rise in desertions.
 They also retaliated by firing his brother Jeremiah (who was widely seen as a supporter of the Shute-Dudley-Dummer faction) as colonial agent.

Shute's complaints to London resulted in the eventual issuance by the Privy Council of an Explanatory Charter for the province, in which the council sided with Shute on all of the major issues.
 Shute was preparing to return to Massachusetts in 1727 when King George I died.
 King George II chose to give the Massachusetts governorship to William Burnet instead of renewing Shute's commission, and he renewed Dummer's commission as lieutenant governor.

The matter of colonial currency arose again in 1726.
 Dummer had been instructed to only allow new issues under exceptional circumstances, and £100,000 was due to be retired.
 The assembly proposed to circumvent the need for an exception by allocating the issue for the repair of fortifications, something for which Dummer had requested funding.
 Since the proposed currency issuance greatly exceeded the amount needed for repairs, Dummer vetoed the request and dissolved the assembly.
 When the assembly met in 1727, Dummer kept the body in session for 165 days, demanding it act on the mandated currency withdrawal.
 The assembly threatened to withhold his salary, and ultimately retired £40,000 of currency before Dummer relented.
 The matter had significantly poisoned the atmosphere when Burnet arrived in July 1728 to take office.
Dummer sought to be generally conciliatory in his dealings with the provincial legislature, tolerating, for example, the selection of Elisha Cooke (who had led the opposition to Shute) as speaker of the assembly. He finessed the assembly's attempts to interfere with management of the militia by organizing expeditions when the body was not in session, earning the enmity of opponents when it did meet.  The assembly refused to appropriate funds to pay soldier salaries, leading to a rise in desertions.  They also retaliated by firing his brother Jeremiah (who was widely seen as a supporter of the Shute-Dudley-Dummer faction) as colonial agent.
Shute's complaints to London resulted in the eventual issuance by the Privy Council of an Explanatory Charter for the province, in which the council sided with Shute on all of the major issues.  Shute was preparing to return to Massachusetts in 1727 when King George I died.  King George II chose to give the Massachusetts governorship to William Burnet instead of renewing Shute's commission, and he renewed Dummer's commission as lieutenant governor.
The matter of colonial currency arose again in 1726.  Dummer had been instructed to only allow new issues under exceptional circumstances, and £100,000 was due to be retired.  The assembly proposed to circumvent the need for an exception by allocating the issue for the repair of fortifications, something for which Dummer had requested funding.  Since the proposed currency issuance greatly exceeded the amount needed for repairs, Dummer vetoed the request and dissolved the assembly.  When the assembly met in 1727, Dummer kept the body in session for 165 days, demanding it act on the mandated currency withdrawal.  The assembly threatened to withhold his salary, and ultimately retired £40,000 of currency before Dummer relented.  The matter had significantly poisoned the atmosphere when Burnet arrived in July 1728 to take office.
William Dummer