that had plagued it for decades. But it was not in New York that the ulti-
mate decisions were being made: Leisler’s enemies had taken their case to
London, where the new government saw Leisler as a troublemaker.
To end the presumed disturbance, London appointed a new governor
and sent before him a small military force whose commander quickly allied
himself with Leisler’s enemies. When Leisler refused to give up the power
he had accumulated, the commander arrested him and tried him for trea-
son. Leisler and his son-in-law were convicted and sentenced to be
“hanged by the Neck and, being Alive, their bodies be Cutt Downe to the
Earth that their Bowells be taken out and they being Alive burnt before
their faces that their heads shall be struck off and their Bodys Cutt cut in
four parts and which has be Desposed of as their Majesties Shall Assigne.”
That “assignment” took care of Leisler, but not of the cause he had
embraced: a few years later, in 1704, the governor wrote to the Board
of Trade in London that the colonial legislature of New York aimed “to
make themselves an independent people, and...to divest the administra-
tion... of all the Queen’s power and authority and to lodge it in the
Assembly.”
Before these events were played out, the western part of what had
become New York had been given by the duke of York to two of his friends.
What became New Jersey (known then as Nova Caesaria) went to Lord
John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. Then the southeastern territory
along the Delaware River was acquired by William Penn.
Meanwhile, in 1681, William Penn acquired the patent to what became
Pennsylvania. Not only did the Society of Friends gain a new homeland,
but their emigration, Penn told the king, rid England of the troublesome
Quakers. Apparently, the king found the argument persuasive, since, as
with Baltimore, the monarchy charged Penn only a nominal rent: two
beaver skins to be delivered to Windsor Castle each year.
To settle his grant, Penn mobilized an unprecedented real estate mar-
keting venture. Agents toured Europe and broadcast pamphlets and broad-
sheets in French, Dutch, and German as well as English. Each settler was
expected to pay his way: 6 pounds for a husband and wife; 5 pounds for a
servant. One chest of their belongings was to be shipped free. Land would
be free except for a small quitrent. Although Penn was active in promoting
142 THE BIRTH OF AMERICA