• Charter_of_the_Colony_of_Connecticut.pdf: Connecticut Charter

• Text.doc: Summary in .doc

• Text.odt: Summary in .odt

Analyzing the Correspondence

On April 23, 1664, King Charles sent Governor Nicolls to New York. On the same day he sent commissioners to the other Colonies with the instructions that the “principall end of your journey is to remove all jealousies and misunderstandings which might arise” between England and her colonies. Massachusetts and Connecticut were asked “as soone as conveniently...[to deliver] a draught or mapp of their limitts & jurisdiction they lay claime to”. (NY 94, 98)

Nicolls was given the private instructions to “by insinuateing yourselves by all kind and dextrous carriage into the good opinion of the principall persons there, that soe you may (after a full observation of the humour and interest both of those in government and those of the best quality out of government and, generally, of the people themselves) lead and dispose them to desire to renew their Charters and to make such alterations as will appeare necessary for their owne benefit: - Yet you may informe all men that a great end of your design is the possessing of Long Island, and reduceing that people to an entyre submission and obedience to us & our governement, now vested by our grant and Commission in our Brother the Duke of Yorke” (NY 100). Nicolls was to expand New York's territory.

The ultimate resolution of Nicolls' efforts was the 1664 Agreement mentioned in the wikipedia article. However, this resolution was strongly resisted by New York and never accepted back in England. The Jarring Interests points to New York's relative weakness at the time (fewer colonizers, less wealth for expansion) to explain the bargaining imbalance reflected in the 1664 boundaries. However, Nicolls was able to achieve the “great end” – all of Long Island for New York.

The agreement was almost immediately resisted by New York. When the Duke of York sent Gov. Dongan to New York he instructed him to secure his territorial claim – both by buying up adjoining lands from Native Americans and by agreeing on “the Boundaryes of my territoryes towards Connecticut with the Governors and inhabitants of Connectecut, and you are to send over to me true and exact Mapps of all my said Territoryes.” (NY 376)

Gov. Dongan repudiated the 1664 agreement in a letter to Gov. Treat of Connecticut: “The King's Commissioners being strangers and relying upon your people, were assured by them that the River Mamranet was twenty miles every where from Hudon's River; as we have very creditable witnesses can testify...If you do not submitt to let us have all the land within twenty miles of Hudson's River, I must claime as far as the Duke's Pattent goes; which is to the River Connecticut. There is land enough for us all, and I love not to do my neighbors ill offices.” (CT 350) But despite the boisterous claim, New York was not prepared to follow through on such belligerence.

New York was small and economically insecure. Unlike the other colonies, it was created by a grant to the Duke of York and not a charter to an independent corporation. Because of that, the Duke tells Dongan to be mindful of “immunities and priviledges beyond” (NY 376) those of the other Colonies that New York might require. As Dongan opines to the Duke, New York (at it's then borders) is not profitable. “Besides Connecticut, as it now is, takes away from us almost all the land of Value that lyes adjoyning to Hudsons River and the best part of the River itself. Besides as wee find by experience if that place bee not annexed to that Government it will bee impossible to make any thing considerable of his Majesties Customs and Revenue in Long Island they carry away without entring all our Oyles which is the greatest part of what wee have to make returns from this place: And from Albany and that way up the river our Beaver and Peltry. This Government too has an undoubted right to it by Charter which is late Majesty of Blessed Memory granted to our present King.” (NY 434)

The profitability is razor thin (or at least as Dongan reports) “Its a very hard thing upon mee that coming over hither in troublesome times, finding noe Revenue established” and having to establish and maintain military strength while striving with Massachussets, Connecticut, East & West Jersey, and Pennsylvania over the respective boundaries.(NY 449)

“New Yorke is the Metropolis, is scituate upon a barren island bounded by Hudson's River and the East River that runs into the Sound, and hath nothing to support it but trade”. (NY 839) New York needed to control territory and tax the trade through that territory in order to grow. The Duke advised Dongan to funnel all trade in the area, particularly with Native Americans, into the Hudson and once there to tax it. If New Jersey citizens had found alternative routes to trade beaver and other pelts, Dongan was to “use [his] endeavours to prevent it” (NY 391). [This would remain a problem, as it remained an instruction to the later Gov. Fletcher (NY 861).]

But at all times, Dongan was instructed to view the colony as solely an investment vehicle and should “take care that the Dukes chardge be not increased thereby, but rather his revenue” (NY 392). The problem for Dongan was that merely controlling the Hudson was not enough – wherever a market could exist without having to pay Royal excises, willing Natives would flock to trade. “And as for Beaver and Peltry its impossible to hinder its being carried thither, the Indians value not the length of their journey soe as they can come to a good market which those people can better afford them than wee, they paying noe Custom nor Excise inwards or outwards.” (NY 434).

The relative importance of down river settlements as opposed to upriver control is evident in the confusion of the 1644 agreement. At the time, the lines through the Connecticut Panhandle and Long Island were more immediately troubling than where the line intersected the Hudson. The prize jewel for Nicolls York was Long Island, and that's reflected in the eventual resolutions. Though ultimately New York lost profitable towns in Greenwich and Stamford, it retained Long Island.

That's not to say Dongan was unconcerned with his North and Western frontiers, but his concern there was more in controlling relationships with the Natives. The Five Nations are a “bulwark” between the English and their French and Native enemies, and Dongan claims he does not allow “Christians to converse with them any where but at Albany and that not without my licence.” (NY 434). For Dongan, the long-standing relationship is one of the great strengths of the colony. “Those Indians & the people of this Government have been in continued peace & amity one with another these fifty years. And those Indians about forty years agoe did annex their Lands to this Government & have ever since constantly renewed the same with every Governor that has been here both in the time of the Dutch & the English and in particular to myself who have given them largely in consideration of their lands. And I am certainly informed, that they have declared they will goe and live on the the other side of the lake than bee under any Government on this than ours.” (NY 434)

But the profitability of the colony is too much of an issue for Dongan to control, particularly after an embezzlement black eye caused by Lucas Santen. When he was finally removed from power, Dongan defended himself by again claiming the lack of Connecticut was fatal to New York; “your Majestie will find I am much in debt with the people here, and your Majestie to me, and no ways left for paying itt if Connetticutt be not joyned to this Government, which your Majestie will otherwise be continually out of purse to meintein and who ever comes after me will certainly runn your Majestie more in debt, I having managed your Majesties Revenue to the greatest advantage and with all the good husbandry imaginable.” (NY 555) Dongan was not able to get Connecticut, but the boundary he was able to create in 1683 is the modern boundary.

The 'need' for New York to absorb Connecticut was used much during the run-up to the Dominion of New England. When the debate over what would happen in the creation of the Dominion were settled, Gov. Andros was to take over all colonies, including New York. Originally just to be the head of New England, Andros was told by James “And whereas since that time Wee have thought it necessary for our service and for the better protection and security of our subjects in those parts to join and annex to our said Government the neighboring Colonies of Road Island and Connecticutt, our Province of New York and Easy and West Jersey, with the territories thereunto belongs, as wee do hereby join annex and unite the same to our said government and dominion of New England.” (NY 580)

The Dominion would not last; the attempt to unite all colonies under a single, and more royally-controlled charter was foiled when the citizens of Boston kidnapped Andros and shipped him out of the city. One by one the other colonies declared their chary or celebratory independence from the Dominion. Andros: “By the encouragement and perswasion of those of the Massachusetts the severall other provinces and collonys in New England as far as New Yorke have disunited themselves, and set up their former seperate Charter, or popular governments without Charter, and by that meanes the whole revenue of the Crowne continued and setled in the severall parts for the support of the Government is lost and destroyed.” (NY 768)

Looking at the letters between the governments/governors, I'm struck by how they seem almost farcical (not having read many late 17th century letters I bet much of this is culture shock). In one letter, Connecticut welcomes Dongan, having just arrived “into these western parts of the world”. For the extremely testy response, Gov. Dongan addresses just a single member rather than the whole Council. He chides “I am much obliged to your Governor and Councill for the complements they made me, and do really desire that a firm friendship may be established, assureing you that if there be not, it shall be none of my fault. Itt is the usuall way, when one Government writes to another, for the Chief and Principall to signe it, but since the Gentlemen have not, tis to you, Sir, that I adresse this Answer.” (NY 348) Gov. Dongan, new to the western world, chastises Connecticut for deviating from proper form.

In a letter from a CT Governor to a RI Governor, some RI settlers are warned off with the mock polite request to leave “before they had expended too much in their setlement, which would be but labor lost.” (CT 286) The RI Governor responds with a petulant: “Wee must owne you are of strength sufficient to compell submission. But if you think his Majestie will not relieve, maintaine and defend his subjects in their Just and lawfull Rights from userpation, forceable and violent intrusions, you may attempt any thing under the pretence of a setlment.” (CT 287)

The inevitable border disputes always make the Governors “much surprized at [the] intrenching” (CT 304) upon conflicting patents. At another time, when asked by the Board of Trade to assess the military strength of its neighbors, CT responded “we suppose they are to answer the same Questions, and know better what their strength”. Yet when asked how intergovernmental relations were mentioned the indifference of their relationship with Massachusetts and the hostility of the one with New York. Finally, when asked to describe the borders, CT quips “Our Boundaries are expressed in our Charter.” (CT 321)

The Governors constantly claim they “really desire that a firm friendship may be established,” but then threaten imposingly that “if there be not, it shall be none of my fault.” (CT 348) A wounded Dongan, on finding that Connecticut desires to join MA in the Dominion of New England, and not New York, wails “You cannot but think me greately surprized at this intelligence, if you consider the correspondence that has bin between your Governor and myself. I am a man that did you all the good offices I could at the Court...As for your Governor, he is an easy good natured gentleman, and I believe has bin imposed uppon”. The incredulity cannot be ingenuous, though perhaps the tone is less emphatic than I read it. (CT 407)

Connecticut is a hub during the Dominion crisis. The Governors of MA and NY both try to woo them, and the letters take on almost the tone of a prosecutorial bargain. New York and Massachusetts each offering good treatment and privileges if only Connecticut will submit, Connecticut holding out hope for each colony and waiting for instructions from the King. When Gov. Dongan intercepted a letter from one Mr. Randolph urging Connecticut to join MA, he expressed dismay. Gov. Treat responded “I think I may say that by any of Mr. Randolph says to moue us to encline eastward hath not at all prejudiced us against your honor or your Government with whom we have had so” (CT 379)

The Jarring Interests describes the bargaining of New York as being primarily that of the agent (the various Governors) struggling to achieve temporary success while not harming the long term goals of the principal (the Duke). Reading the letters myself the more immediate sense I get is that of sibling's arguing over their respective positions before they must confront their parents. The letters trade barbs and bribes, but ultimately they never seem too willing to press the issue. As the RI governor alluded in the response above, each side was waiting for the official answer from England. Eventually, a 1700 Order-in-Council ratified the 1683 agreement.

I will post the text soon.

Border Disputes Between New York and Connecticut

Much of the Dutch? jurisprudence was based of the writings of Grotius? , emphasizing claiming the land and interaction with the natives. The English? did not generally accept Grotius' theories, in particular his Mare Liberum? . When Henry Hudson? first explored the area he had been employed by the Dutch: so the Netherlands could base its claim on both first discovery and status as financial backer. In addition, the Dutch felt that “that territorial possession depended on recognition of the rights of indigenous people in regard to their territory as well as on a Dutch military presence to defend the claim from European incursion.”(12) While the majority of the Dutch population of New Netherlands? clustered around the Hudson River? and western Long Island? , the Dutch still maintained forts and trading posts along the Connecticut River? (e.g. Fort Hoop? , in modern day Hartford? ) and went on frequent expeditions to exploit the natural resources of the area (e.g. beaver hunting).

By contrast, the exploding population of the New England Colonies? placed ever more farms and settlements across Connecticut? and Long Island Sound. Connecticut Colony? also based its claims on conquest. Following the end of the Pequot War? in 1638, Connecticut had signed a treaty with the Massachusetts Bay Colony? and the Mohegan? and Narragansett (tribe)| Narragansett? tribes ceding all of the Pequot? lands to Connecticut. The English also rejected the claim that Hudson's discovery secured the area for the Dutch: Hudson was an Englishman and had not been hired to explore the area, but had rather discovered it by accident.

Another English objection to Dutch control was based in dealings with the natives. The Dutch had endangered the “adjoining Countries most wickedly, feloniously, and traitorously, contrary to the Marine and Admirall Laws of all Christians, [by selling] wholesale guns, powder, shot and ammunition to the Indians, instructing them in the use of our fights and arms.’’Plantagenet, Beauchamp. [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A54990.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext 'A Description of the Province of New Albion']. 1648. The Dutch claim to the land was further weakened when Peter Stuyvesant? justified trading guns by citing pressure from the natives.

Treaty of 1650 between New Netherlands and Connecticut [[File:Blaeu - Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova.png|thumb|left|425px|Nova Belgica et New England|Anglia Nova, displaying Dutch claims prior to 1650? , 1635]] [[File:Map-Novi Belgii Novæque Angliæ (Amsterdam, 1685).jpg|thumb|left|400px|1685 reprint of 1650 map of New Netherland, which is not a completely correct representation of the situation at the time. The border with New England had been adjusted to (13) west of the Fresh River, while the Lange Eylandt towns west of Oyster Bay were under Dutch jurisdiction.]]

In 1650, the Treaty_of_Hartford#1650_treaty|Treaty of Hartford? sought to set the border between New Netherlands and the colonies of Connecticut. The main land was split by a line (14) from the Connecticut River and Long Island was divided into an East (Connecticut) and West (New Amsterdam) at Oyster_Bay_(hamlet),_New_York|Oyster Bay? . However, the treaty was never ratified back in England, which left the border unresolved when the Province of New York? was created by a [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Grant_to_the_Duke_of_York_1664 sea-to-sea grant in 1664]] just two years after Connecticut had been issued a [add my charter scan to wikisource sea-to-sea charter in 1662.]

The Colonies of New York and Connecticut =Governor Nicolls and the 1664 Agreement= Image:ctcolony.png|right|400px|thumb|Map showing the Connecticut, New Haven, and Saybrook colonies and the CT-NY dispute?

The settlers from Connecticut and New York jostled over their respective claims. Long Islanders who had arrived from New England were very resistant to becoming New Yorkers. Local government under the James II of England|Duke's? charter gave no guarantee of assembly or “other privileges to which [New Englanders] had become accustomed.” (15)|page=7

In 1664, Charles II of England? sent royal commissioners, led by Richard Nicolls|Gov. Nicolls? , in part to “end unneighbourly and unbrotherly contentions” (16)  In 1675, a New York review of the boundary claimed there was a verbal agreement that the line should be at all times (17) from the Hudson; and in 1683, Thomas_Dongan,_2nd_Earl_of_Limerick|Gov. Dongan? heard witnesses testify that the Connecticut commissioners had assured Gov. Nicolls that “the river Mamranet was twenty miles every where from Hudson's River.” New York Colonial Manuscripts, XXV, 54a (as cited in )

However, the agreement explicitly required royal approval, and since it concerned the grant to the Duke of York it required his approval as well. Neither approval was ever given.

=Gov. Lovelace and the Return of New Amsterdam=

Upon replacing Gov. Nicolls, Francis Lovelace|Gov. Lovelace? did not actively press the Duke of York's claims under his grant. The government of New York was less stable than that of Connecticut. It was economically weaker and had to unite a much more hetergeneous population.

For a short period in 1673, New York reverted to New Amsterdam under Dutch control. The Dutch had by this time ratified the 1650 agreement. This would mark a significant loss to Connecticut, which pressed for adherence to the 1664 agreement and the ouster of the Dutch.

=Gov. Andros and New York's 1674 Patent=

Following the Treaty of Westminster (1674)|Treaty of Westminster? , New York was once again under English control. Edmund Andros|Gov. Andros? returned to New York in 1674 with a new patent, again claiming all lands up to the Connecticut River. Gov. Andros showed a markedly aggressive tack in his negotiations with Connecticut. In May 1675, Andros sent a letter asking for land west of the Connecticut River under the Duke's new patent. When Gov. Winthrop objected, Andros sent a representative in June to demand the Connecticut's submission, threatening to send soldiers against any rebellion.

During this time of high tensions between the colonies, King Philip's War? broke out in 1675. Andros attempted to use this to consolidate lands under the Duke's patent. At the start of the war, Andros sent troops to Old Saybrook, Connecticut|Fort Saybrook? , nominally to defend. However, Winthrop's troops arrived first, and held the fort themselves. Andros requested that Winthrop temporarily relinquish Connecticut's claim to the area in order to strengthen the united defense.

=Gov. Dongan and the 1683 Agreement=

In the 1680's, the Duke of York's influence in England grew stronger, and Gov. Dongan was encouraged to seek a speedy resolution to the border dispute after his arrival in 1683. John Pell, a Westchester justice, granted a warrant requiring the constables of Rye,New_York|Rye? , Greenwich, Connecticut|Greenwich? , and Stamford, Connecticut|Stamford? to appear at a NY Court of Assizes in Oct 1683. Gov. Dongan told the court that Connecticut had violated the 1664 agreement and warned “If you do not submitt to let us have all the land within twenty miles of Hudson's River, I must claime as far as the Duke's Pattent goes; which is to the River Connecticut. There is land enough for us all, and I love not to do my neighbors ill offices.” (18) The border agreed upon in 1683 is the modern border; giving Rye to New York but allowing Connecticut to retain Westchester and Stamford. “The boundary would begin at the northwestern corner of Greenwich, proceed along a line eight miles north of and parallel to the Long Island Sound, then turn due north, extending to Massachusett's southern line.” In respect of the 1664 oral agreement, because Greenwich and Stamford were less than (19) from the Hudson the line was more than (20) away in the north; granting New York “Equivalent Lands” in largely unpopulated areas. However, the 1683 agreement was never ratified back in England.

As the Dominion of New England? became a reality and quo warranto? proceedings were begun against the Connecticut charter in 1686, Gov. Dongan sought to have Connecticut subsumed by New York instead. Despite repeated attempts and conversations with Connecticut leaders, Dongan was informed by the General Court of England that it would be impossible and Connecticut would become part of the Dominion.

=Gov. Fletcher, Gov. Bellomont, and the 1700 Order in Council=

Following the Glorious Revolution|1688 Revolution? , New York representatives in England continued to press for the annexation of Connecticut and the surrounding New England colonies, emphasizing New York's status as a royal rather than proprietary colony. Locally, private parties continued to dispute claims. In 1692, landowners in Rye and Bedford (town), New York|Bedford? (New York, per the 1683 agreement) went to Connecticut General Court to seek protection. A month later, in November, some of these men were made to appear in New York courts and “acknowledge their fault in making their addresses to the Colony of Connecticut to be taken into that pretended Government.”New York Council, Ms. Mins. 3 November 1692. (as cited in )

In 1693, Benjamin Fletcher|Gov. Fletcher? commanded a Connecticut militia in Hartford as part of an intercolonial defense force called for in the royal commission. Fletcher, by his own admission, was bumptious and bellicose; Fitz-John Winthrop? was later able to use this event to remove Fletcher from office in 1697. Before being replaced by Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont|Gov. Bellomont? , Fletcher referred the dispute to Whitehall? .

Gov. Bellomont and Gov. Winthrop pressed their respective cases. Winthrop argued that the 1683 agreement was invalid because it had never been ratified in England. But the March 1700 Order in Council sided with New York and the 1683 agreement; the dispute had finally been settled by order of the king.

=The Settling of the Boundary=

But the governments of New York and Connecticut were not quick to effectuate the 1700 Order in Council. Between 1700 and 1717, neither attempted to actually survey and settle the border, leaving the issue to individual landowners. During this time, New York issued patents extending well beyond the boundary, and some New York patent holders even controlled land as far as the Housatonic River? .

Beginning in 1717, Connecticut began to attempt to survey the line; New York had more trouble securing the appropriate funds because New York's royal patent made new land less profitable to individual citizens. In 1725, in order to effectuate the Order in Council, New York and Connecticut reached a working boundary agreement. The agreement created the Connecticut Panhandle|Wilton and Ridgefield Angles? to better follow the Hudson and to keep as much of Ridgefield, Connecticut|Ridgefield? in Connecticut as possible as well as settling on the “Equivalent Land” that New York would receive in exchange for the Connecticut panhandle.(i.e. the Oblong). The final survey was made, and the Oblong formally signed over by Connecticut, in May of 1731, ending the territorial dispute between Connecticut and New York.

See also * History of Connecticut? *History of New York?

Additional Reading

Notes

-- StephenSevero - 09 Nov 2011

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