Person:Edmund Andros (1)

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Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served as governor of the provinces of New York, East and West Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland.

Before his service in North America, he served as Bailiff of Guernsey. His tenure in New England was authoritarian and turbulent, as his views were decidedly pro-Anglican, a negative quality in a region home to many Puritans. His actions in New England resulted in his overthrow during the 1689 Boston revolt. He became governor of Virginia three years later.

Andros was considered to have been a more effective governor in New York and Virginia, although he became the enemy of prominent figures in both colonies, many of whom worked to remove him from office. Despite these enmities, he managed to negotiate several treaties of the Covenant Chain with the Iroquois, establishing a long-lived peace involving the colonies and other tribes that interacted with that confederacy. His actions and governance generally followed the instructions he was given upon appointment to office, and he received approbation from the monarchs and governments that appointed him.

Andros was recalled to England from Virginia in 1698, and resumed the title of Bailiff of Guernsey. Although he no longer resided entirely on Guernsey, he was appointed lieutenant governor of the island, and served in this position for four years. Andros died in 1714.

Andros, Sir Edmund, governor of Virginia from 1692 to 1698, was the second son of a Guernsey gentleman belonging to Charles I.'s household. He was born in London, December 6, 1637, appointed gentleman in ordinary to the Queen of Bohemia in 1660, served in the regiment of foot sent to America in 1666, was major in Rupert's dragoons in 1672, and succeeded his father as bailiff of Guernsey in 1674. The same year he was appointed by James, Duke of York, to be governor of the province of New York, which had been granted to the duke by Charles II. In 1678 he was knighted while governor from New York. He engaged in some disputes with the authorities of the neighboring colonies and in 1681 was recalled to England. The authorities in England had borne with great patience the oppressive governments of the New England oligarchies, and their conduct brought punishment not altogether undeserved. Their charters were confiscated, and Andros was appointed in 1686 governor of the various colonies consolidated to form the dominion of New England. In this position Andros made himself very unpopular by his energy in carrying out the instructions of James II. Acting under the king's directions he put restrictions on the freedoms of the press, and appointed a general council by whose advice he laid taxes and carried on all government and legislation. This was a reversion to the Spanish type of colonial government, which could not be justified, but he performed a good part in proclaiming claiming liberty of conscience, in subduing the Indians, and in repressing the pirates, who were the scourge of the New England coast. His unpopularity continued to increase, however, and when the news of the abdication of King James arrived, the people of Boston, on April 18, 1689, suddenly seized the governor and some of his subordinates and imprisoned them. Sir Edmund was sent over to England, where, to the disappointment of his enemies, he was released without a formal trial. King William seemed to think that he had only done his duty in carrying out the instructions sent him, and so returned him to America as governor of Virginia. Here he showed both his good and evil side. He promoted manufactures and agriculture, put in order the government records which were in a chaotic state, and by his affability made himself generally popular with the people, but he quarrelled with Commissary James Blair, and after helping him to establish the new college at Williamsburg, permitted his angry feelings against Dr. Blair to make him an enemy of the institution. The result was that, through the influence of the commissary and his relations and friends on the council, Andros was recalled in 1698. In 1704 Andros was appointed governor of Jersey, which office he held until 1706. The remainder of his life seems to have been passed in London, where he died February 22, 1713-14.