Background
Thomas Dongan was born in 1634 at Castletown, in the county of Kildare, Ireland. He was a younger son of Sir John Dongan, Baronet.
Thomas Dongan was born in 1634 at Castletown, in the county of Kildare, Ireland. He was a younger son of Sir John Dongan, Baronet.
Dongan adopted the profession of arms and spent some years in France in the service of Louis XIV.
On August 25, 1683, he arrived at his new post. The territory under his jurisdiction included not only New York itself but also the dependencies of Pemaquid, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket.
The Duke’s instructions provided for the calling of a representative assembly, and one of the new governor’s first acts was to issue writs of election. The body thus chosen met for the first time on October 17, 1683, and its first statute defined more fully the organization and powers of the assembly and came to be known as the “Charter of Liberties. ” After James’s accession to the throne, however, the measure was disallowed, and New York, which had now become a royal province, was again without a representative assembly.
Dongan devoted himself most energetically to the development of the colony. He strengthened the defenses and took steps to determine more definitely the boundaries of the province. He even dreamed of establishing a postal system, to extend from Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, which might serve as a bond of union between the English colonics in America.
In 1687 he submitted to the home government a report on the state of the province which contains a remarkable description of New York at that time.
His greatest service, however, consisted in his early recognition of the growing power of the French to the northward and in his insistence that the home government aid him in checking it.
French Jesuits were active among the Iroquois and were using their influence for political ends, while efforts were being made from Quebec to establish something in the nature of a protectorate over those tribes. Dongan protested vigorously to De la Barre, the governor of Canada, and to his successor, the Marquis de Denonville. As early as 1684 he had caused the arms of the Duke of York to be erected in the Iroquois villages, a step which he regarded as equivalent to the establishment of a protectorate.
By the winter of 1687-88 an open conflict seemed imminent, and Dongan raised a force for the defense of Albany, superintending the arrangements in person.
His vigorous policy, which was undertaken almost solely upon his own responsibility, at length bore fruit when James II rather tardily gave it the sanction of his approval.
In August 1688 Dongan was superseded by Sir Edmund Andros, but instead of returning at once to England, he decided to remain in New York, where he was unfortunate enough to fall a victim to the fanatical anti-Catholic crusade which attended the Revolution of 1689 in the colonies.
After some vicissitudes he returned to England in 1691.
Though Dongan was himself a Roman Catholic, his administration was marked by a broad tolerance in religious matters.
By his clearness of vision, no less than by the vigor of his policy, Dongan proved himself one of the race of empire builders.
