CHAPTER IV 



AS A ROYAL PROVINCE. I685-I776 



FEBRUARY 9, 1685, the "Merry Monarch," King 

 Charles II., expired in London; and the same day 

 his brother James, Duke of York and Albany, be- 

 came King James II. of England. New York ceased to be 

 a part of the private domain of James and became a royal 

 province; though Dongan continued to be Governor- General. 

 The Provincial Assembly was suspended by the King, as he did 

 not consider it expedient that the people should take part in 

 the government, and the Governor and his council became 

 once more supreme. Now that New York and New England 

 were on the same basis as royal provinces, Governor Dongan 

 proposed to the King that they, with New Jersey, should be 

 united under one royal governor, and that there should be 

 uniformity of laws, especially those relating to the customs. 

 This suggestion of Dongan's was carried out in 1688; and 

 Sir Edmund Andros was appointed Royal Governor, with 

 headquarters in Boston, while Colonel Francis Nicholson 

 was sent as Lieutenant-Governor for New York. 



In 1686, Dongan granted to the city of New York a new 

 charter under the title: "The Mayor, Aldermen, and Com- 

 monalty of the City of New York. " The precincts of the 



city included all of Manhattan Island ; and the Dongan charter 



68 



