He made
up his mind not to have any more of this disobedience, and he took
away the charter and made Massachusetts a Crown Colony. Thus after
fifty-five years of practical freedom Massachusetts once more
belonged to the King of England, by right of the discovery of John
and Sebastian Cabot. Of course, the people of Massachusetts fought
against this as hard as they could, but their struggle was useless,
and a royal Governor was appointed to rule the colony.
Almost immediately, however, Charles died, and it was not until his
brother, James II, was on the throne that Sir Edmund Andros came
out as royal Governor. He came not only as Governor of Massachusetts
but as Governor of all the New England Colonies. For the King wanted
to make an end of all these separate colonies and unite them into
one great province.
Andros soon made himself very much disliked, for he tried to rule
New England too much as his master tried to rule Great Britain. He
levied taxes as he pleased, he imprisoned innocent men if he chose,
he allowed nothing to be printed without his permission, he seized
lands and goods at will.
All New England felt the weight of the Governor's hand. He demanded
Rhode Island's charter. But the Governor of Rhode Island replied
that the weather was so bad he really could not send it. So Sir
Edmund went to Rhode Island, dissolved its government and smashed
its seal.
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