Royal Government, Royal Officials and the Church

Abstract

Between 1675 and 1715 the extension of the church to New England and the Middle Colonies was designed and controlled by ecclesiastical and civil officials in London, particularly by the members of the Committee for Trade and Plantations and Bishop Compton.¹ In Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, the first appearance of the church was linked to the introduction of royal government and the implementation of imperial policies and appointment of crown officials. It was not an easy fit because the efforts in these seaport communities generated an incontrovertible swirl of contentious political opposition. During the last fifteen years of the seventeenth century two key and determined civil royal officials — Edward Randolph and Francis Nicholson — played prominent roles in planting the church in each of these major towns. Both men were extraordinarily confident, strong-willed, experienced, and forceful crown officers. They viewed the church as an essential component of assertive imperial administration: for the establishment of authority and the fashioning of loyalty.