Baltimore's domain. To establish the claim Andros first sailed with armed sloops to the Connecticut River. At Fort Saybrook he was defeated and forced to return to New York. His effort to rule New Jersey was resisted by the legislature and baffled. Even in New York his administration was rather unsuccessful because he adhered too strictly to instructions from the duke. The people demanded a share in legislation, but the duke said, "I cannot but suspect assemblies would be of dangerous consequences.'

His Description of New York. When Andros returned to England in 1678 to be knighted, he wrote a fine description of New York. This showed the character of the government. There were twenty-four towns in the colony. A few of the buildings were of stone or brick, but most were wooden. The province exported about 60,000 bushels of wheat, and also peas, beef, pork, fish, tobacco, furs, timber, horses, pitch and tar. All the estates were valued at about $900,000. "Some few of all nations" were in the colony. Ministers were so scarce and religions so many that the list of births, marriages, and deaths could not be given. There were no beggars and few slaves. Andros's enemies at court secured his dismissal in 1680. He had reorganized the militia, strengthened the defenses, increased trade, raised the social condition of the people, and held the Iroquois faithful allies of the English.

First General Assembly.-In 1683 Thomas Dongan arrived in the province as governor of the duke's possessions in America. One of his first acts was to appoint a council" of not more than ten men to aid him in conducting the government. Obeying the duke's in

structions and the "desires of the colony," Dongan called a general assembly of the freeholders. Seventeen delegates were elected, and these with the governor and his council constituted the legislature. This first assembly met in Fort James and adopted fourteen acts, the most important being the "Charter of Liberties." This document declared that "the supreme legislative authority shall forever be and reside in a governor, council, and the people met in general assembly," and also that no tax shall be imposed except by consent of the assembly. Both the governor and the duke signed the charter. The duke reserved a veto on all laws, however. In 1685 the duke, as king of England, repudiated the charter of freedom.

Important Laws. This newly organized government passed some excellent laws. One divided New York into ten counties-New York, Richmond, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Westchester, Orange, Dutchess, Ulster, and Albany.1 Another important act provided for four distinct courts: town courts, for the trial of small cases, to be held monthly; county courts, to be held quarterly; a general court, to sit twice a year in each county; and a supreme court of chancery, composed of the governor and council. Appeals could be made to the king. A third law provided for the naturalization of foreigners upon very easy terms. Dongan gave the city of New York a charter (1686).2

Boundary Disputes.-The eastern and northern boundaries of New York engaged the attention of Dongan.

1

1 Duke's county and Cornwall county included lands outside of New York.

2 See Wilson, Mem. Hist. of N. Y., I., 437.

In 1683 he and his council went to Connecticut to settle the disputed line. After the customary wrangling, the boundary was fixed at twenty miles east of the Hudson. That was about as it is now. The exact line was established in 1731. To the north and west the English claimed all the lands which the Dutch had secured from the Indians through purchase or by treaty. When William Penn tried to buy land from the Iroquois in New York (1683) they refused to sell without the consent of the English governor. When the Senecas attacked the French (1684) the governor of Canada complained to Dongan and threatened to punish them. But Dongan told him the Senecas were under the duke's protection, and warned him not to invade the duke's territory. At Albany Dongan met the Five Nations, who smoked "the pipe of peace," acknowledged the English king as their great sachem, and confirmed Dongan's claim to the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, and the Niagara River as the northern boundary of New York. For years, however, the French contested this claim.

Livingston Manor.-To Robert Livingston,1 the son of a Scotch divine, was granted a large tract on the east side of the Hudson adjoining Rensselaerswyck manor in what are now Dutchess and Columbia counties (1686). George I. confirmed the grant of Livingston

1 He came to America from Holland in 1674. He was a surveyor and well versed in both English and Dutch law. He settled up the Hudson, where he soon became a man of wealth and power. He also held many prominent offices in the colony and by marriage was connected with the Schuylers and Van Rensselaers.

manor in 1715. This family played an important part in the history of New York.

New York a Crown Colony.-Upon the death of Charles II. his brother, the Duke of York, who owned such extensive possessions in America, succeeded him on the English throne. This made New York a crown colony, depending upon the will or whim of the king. Under this new relationship the king refused to renew his sanction of the Charter of Liberties, and sent orders to have the general assembly dissolved on the ground that too much power had been given to the people.

66

Dongan, "a competent governor, faithful, of broad views, and vigorous in action," was continued in office till August, 1688. The province made substantial advancement under his administration, and the first great step was taken toward self-government. New York City and Albany were given new charters. He prevented the French from building a fort at Niagara to control the fur-trade of the upper lakes, and bravely upheld the English side of the contest with France over territory in the north and west. He encouraged parties of young men to engage in the fur-trade with tribes west of New York, and in 1686 one of these parties reached the outlet of Lake Michigan.

Fur-trade. The fur-trade, particularly in beaverskins, was the first and best-paying industry in the province. Cities and streets were named after the beaver, and the seal of the colony had a beaver on it. By 1634, 15,000 beaver and 1,500 other pelts, valued at $54,000, were sent to Holland. The "beaver price. set the value for all other goods. For over a century.

"

France and England waged a fierce contest over the furtrade. No governor labored more effectually than Dongan to uphold Great Britain's interests.

CHAPTER X.-EFFECT OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION ON NEW YORK

English Revolution in New York. In 1688 New York was annexed to New England under the rule of Andros, who was represented in New York by a lieutenant, Francis Nicholson. Later in the year news of the great English Revolution reached New York and produced a small revolution there. Nicholson, the representative of James II., was driven out, and the Prince of Orange was proclaimed king. The central figure in the uprising was Jacob Leisler, an energetic shopkeeper and a German soldier, who had come to the colony in the employ of the West India Company. As captain of the militia and supported by a majority of the people, he assumed the government, and retained it for three years.

Leisler Acts as Governor.-Leisler united with others in calling a convention of delegates from the counties. Twelve deputies from five counties met and chose a committee of safety, and that body appointed Leisler "commander-in-chief of the province." But the local and the provincial officials over the colony refused to recognize Leisler's authority. In December King William sent a letter to New York addressed to "Our Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief in our Province of New York, or in his absence to such as for the