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C h a p t e r 3 rumors and rebellions In the last months of 1688 a new wave of fear swept England’s american colonies. On the island of Barbados, white planters believed themselves to be targets of a vast design by popish recusants, French Jesuits, and irish servants, a plot to reduce the island to “popery and slavery” and perhaps deliver it to France. By January 1689 almost identical rumors appeared in new England, where indians joined the list of enemies, and two months later settlers on the frontier of maryland and Virginia began whispering of the same plot. at the same time, rumors of a different sort arrived from Europe, telling of William of Orange’s invasion, James ii’s abdication to France, and a possible change of government. This combination of fears and great expectations pushed matters to a crisis: by april colonists in Boston took to the streets demanding a change in government, and before the summer’s end political strife had spread to many, if not all, of the colonies. By that time one former governor languished in prison, two more had been forced to resign, and another had surreptitiously abandoned his post, sailing for England. all told, the rebellions of 1689 marked the most dramatic political disturbance in the colonies before the next revolution a century later.1 to casual observers, the turmoil of 1689 spelled the end of the Stuart design to reform the empire. The effort at imperial centralization had moved farthest in Boston and new york, the constituent parts of the ambitious dominion of new England, but several days of popular turmoil succeeded in erasing over a decade’s worth of work by imperial leaders. By the summer of 1689, when England’s new monarchs William and mary attempted to take firm control of their dominions, many american colonies were in administrative chaos, without functional governments of any sort. Even Edward randolph, the man who had worked so hard to build a new empire, and had expressed repeated confidence that it could be done, took on a less optimistic tone. Writing from 86 Chapter 3 the “common jail in new algiers”—as he termed Boston—randolph wondered if the colonies were just ungovernable, stating that “force is the Onely argument to convince & oblige them” to submit to authority. maybe Edward cranfield had been right, and only a strong military presence, and the firm establishment of anglican conformity, could bring the colonies into line.2 if one looked beyond Boston and new york to other parts of the colonies , however, the lessons of 1689 were not so negative. in fact, in the ashes of Stuart imperial reforms lay clues as to how to build the empire again. The crisis had revealed something very important: despite their differences, English colonists in america spoke the same political language. From the summer of 1688 throughout the crisis nearly identical rumors circulated around the empire. However, not every rumor led to political chaos. in some places, like Barbados and Virginia, they actually strengthened the hand of authority and ushered in a new era of political stability. The variable, of course, was how local officials responded to the rumors. Those who took them seriously, who made a stand against the real or imagined catholic enemies that threatened their polities, weathered the crisis and came out unscathed. Those who downplayed or discounted popular fears, on the other hand, paid for it with their jobs and reputations.3 The rumors and rebellions of 1688–89, therefore, represented an important turning point in the history of imperial politics. They demonstrated that Stuart absolutist plans for the empire were untenable, but they also pointed the way toward closer coordination between colonies and metropole, enabled by a common fear of catholic rivals. if imperial officials could promote themselves as guardians against a popish enemy, perhaps they could build the level of public support necessary to create a permanent imperial establishment in america. • • • The story of the rebellions of 1689 began not in Boston or new york, but in the West indies. in august 1688 the people of Barbados witnessed one of the most extravagant displays of loyalty to ever appear in the English colonies. lieutenant Governor Edwyn Stede had recently received word of the birth of a male heir to James ii, and he was not content for a simple day of thanksgiving or firing of the fort’s cannon. in addition to those ordinary measures, he organized a vast...

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