“instant” merchant marine that would carry passengers and cargo to and
from the New World. The second result was that in the Treaty of Breda of
1667, the Dutch ceded the territory of what became New York in return for
Britain’s recognition of their claim to Surinam. New Netherland was a vast
tract of land, stretching along the coast from Massachusetts down to the
Delaware River. Only partially developed by the Dutch and a small number
of Swedes (who had established a trading post on the Delaware), it was to
become the private preserve of the king’s brother, James, duke of York.
Just what they were getting and how to deal with the new colony were
obviously complex and difficult questions. To answer them, settle bound-
ary disputes, reform local administrations, and prepare for the granting of
lands to new settlers, Charles II sent a commission to the New World. In
due course, the commissioners arrived in Massachusetts. There, they were
met with defiance that stopped just short of armed resistance. As Bernard
Bailyn has written, the commissioners appeared as “devil figures, incarna-
tions of evil to the inflamed Puritans. The General Court declared their
commission invalid on the ground that the authority it conveyed conflicted
with that of the Massachusetts charter, and refused to authorize their activi-
ties within its jurisdiction.” Massachusetts, the governor wrote to the king
on October 19, 1664, had for “above thirty yeares enjoyed the aforesaid
power & privilege of government within themselves, as their undoubted
right in the sight of God & man.” The Puritan community did not intend
to live in any other way.
When the king received the report of his representatives, he ordered
Massachusetts to send agents at once to explain this response. Cleverly,
Massachusetts evaded the summons but sent the king a present of twenty-
five tall New England white pine logs to be made into masts for the Royal
Navy—a most welcome gift, since England no longer had trees tall enough
to serve as single-pole masts. Governor John Endecott also sent an overtly
obsequious but substantively firm letter describing the history of the rela-
tionship between Britain and Massachusetts. This letter ended on the prac-
tical note that if the king attempted to impose direct rule, his officers would
have to “expend more then [sic] can be raised here.”
Having thus made his case, the governor “neglected” to send represen-
tatives to London to discuss the charges. In turn, the king equivocated; he
132 THE BIRTH OF AMERICA