page_title: 1689 Boston revolt
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: 1689 Boston revolt / Background
context_page_description: The 1689 Boston revolt was a popular uprising on April 18, 1689 against the rule of Sir Edmund Andros, the governor of the Dominion of New England. A well-organized "mob" of provincial militia and citizens formed in the town of Boston, the capital of the dominion, and arrested dominion officials. Members of the Church of England were also taken into custody if they were believed to sympathize with the administration of the dominion. Neither faction sustained casualties during the revolt. Leaders of the former Massachusetts Bay Colony then reclaimed control of the government. In other colonies, members of governments displaced by the dominion were returned to power.
  Andros was commissioned governor of New England in 1686. He had earned the enmity of the local populace by enforcing the restrictive Navigation Acts, denying the validity of existing land titles, restricting town meetings, and appointing unpopular regular officers to lead colonial militia, among other actions. Furthermore, he had infuriated Puritans in Boston by promoting the Church of England, which was rejected by many nonconformist New England colonists.
context_section_description: In the early 1680s, King Charles II of England began taking steps to reorganize the colonies of New England. The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was revoked in 1684 after its leaders refused to act on his demands for reforms in the colony (abolishing the "Hull Mint", see, John Hull(18 December 1624 – 1 October 1683) was the  Treasurer and mintmaster of the Massachusetts Bay Colony) when Charles sought to streamline the administration of the colonies and bring them more closely under crown control. He died in 1685 but his successor continued the efforts, Roman Catholic James II, culminating in his creation of the Dominion of New England. He appointed former New York governor Sir Edmund Andros as dominion governor in 1686. The dominion was composed of the territories of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, Connecticut Colony, the Province of New Hampshire, and the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. In 1688, its jurisdiction was expanded to include New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey.
  Andros's rule was extremely unpopular in New England. He disregarded local representation, denied the validity of existing land titles in Massachusetts (which had been dependent on the old charter), restricted town meetings, and forced the Church of England into largely Puritan regions.  He also enforced the Navigation Acts which threatened the existence of certain trading practices of New England. The royal troops stationed in Boston were often mistreated by their officers, who were supporters of the governor and often either Anglican or Roman Catholic.
  Meanwhile, King James became increasingly unpopular in England. He alienated otherwise supportive Tories with his attempts to relax the Penal Laws, and he issued the Declaration of Indulgence in 1687 which established some freedom of religion, a move opposed by the Anglican church hierarchy. He increased the power of the regular army, an action seen by many Parliamentarians as a threat to their authority, and placed Catholics in important military positions. James also attempted to place sympathizers in Parliament who he hoped would repeal the Test Act which required a strict Anglican religious test for many civil offices. Some Whigs and Tories set aside their political differences when his son and potential successor James was born in June 1688, and they conspired to replace him with his Protestant son-in-law William, Prince of Orange. The Dutch prince had tried unsuccessfully to get James to reconsider his policies; he agreed to an invasion, and the nearly bloodless revolution that followed in November and December 1688 established William and his wife Mary as co-rulers.
  The religious leaders of Massachusetts were led by Cotton and Increase Mather. They were opposed to the rule of Andros, and they organized dissent targeted to influence the court in London.  Increase Mather sent an appreciation letter to the king regarding the Declaration of Indulgence, and he suggested to other Massachusetts pastors that they also express gratitude to him as a means to gain favor and influence.  Ten pastors agreed to do so, and they sent Increase Mather to England to press their case against Andros.  Dominion secretary Edward Randolph repeatedly attempted to stop him, including pressing criminal charges, but Mather clandestinely boarded a ship bound for England in April 1688.  He and other Massachusetts agents were received by King James in October 1688, who promised that the colony's concerns would be addressed.  The events of the revolution, however, halted this attempt to gain redress.
  The Massachusetts agents then petitioned the new monarchs and the Lords of Trade (predecessors to the Board of Trade that oversaw colonial affairs) for restoration of the Massachusetts charter.  Mather furthermore convinced the Lords of Trade to delay notifying Andros of the revolution.  He had already dispatched a letter to previous colonial governor Simon Bradstreet containing news of a report (prepared before the revolution) that the annulment of the Massachusetts charter had been il
caption: Portrait of Dominion Governor Sir Edmund Andros by Mary Beale
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