Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick
The 2nd Earl of Limerick | |
---|---|
Colonial Governor of New York | |
In office August 1683 – 11 August 1688 | |
Monarchs | Charles II James II & VII |
Preceded by | Edmund Andros |
Succeeded by | Edmund Andros (as Governor-General of the Dominion of New England) |
Personal details | |
Born | 1634 Peter Talbot (uncle) Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell |
Parent(s) | Sir John Dongan, 2nd Baronet Mary Talbot |
Signature | |
Thomas Dongan, (pronounced "Dungan")[1][a] 2nd Earl of Limerick (1634 – 14 December 1715), was a member of the Irish Parliament, Royalist military officer during the English Civil War, and Governor of the Province of New York. He is noted for having called the first representative legislature in New York, and for granting the province's Charter of Liberties. His negotiations and subsequent alliance with the Iroquois Indian Confederacy brought a lasting security from the French and their hostile Indian allies.
Early life and family
Dongan was born in 1634 into an old Gaelic Norman (Irish Catholic) family in Castletown Kildrought (now Celbridge), County Kildare, in the Kingdom of Ireland, the seventh and youngest son of Sir John Dongan, 2nd Baronet, Member of the Irish Parliament, and his wife Mary Talbot, daughter of Sir William Talbot, 1st Baronet, and Alison Netterville.[2][3] Dongan's maternal uncles were Peter Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin (1673-1679), and Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, who was lord-deputy of Ireland during the reign of James II. After the beheading of Charles I, Dongan's father, a supporter of the House of Stuart, and his family, fled to France, where Thomas obtained a commission in the army.[4]
Career
While in France, he served in an Irish regiment with
After the
Governor of New York
In September 1682, James, Duke of York, as Lord Proprietor of the
Dongan landed in Boston on 10 August 1683, crossed Long Island Sound, and passed through the small settlements in the eastern part of the island and he made his way to Fort James, arriving on 25 August. In October, Rev. Henry Selyns reported to the Amsterdam Classis, "...our new governor has at last arrived. His excellency is a person of knowledge refinement and modesty. I have had the pleasure of receiving a call from him and I have the privilege of calling on him whenever I desire."[7]
In 1683, at the time of Dongan's appointment the province was bankrupt and in a state of rebellion. Dongan was able to restore order and stability. On October 14 of that year he convened the first-ever representative assembly in New York history at Fort James. The New York General Assembly, under the wise supervision of Dongan, passed an act entitled Charter of Liberties and Privileges.[8][9] It decreed that the supreme legislative power under the Duke of York shall reside in a governor, council, and the people convened in general assembly; conferred upon the members of the assembly rights and privileges making them a body coequal to and independent of the Parliament of England; established town, county, and general courts of justice; solemnly proclaimed the right of religious liberty; and passed acts enunciating certain constitutional liberties, e.g. taxes could be levied only by the people met in general assembly; right of suffrage; and no martial law or quartering of the soldiers without the consent of the inhabitants.[3]
Dongan soon incurred the ill will of
On 22 July 1686, Governor Dongan granted Albany a municipal charter, now known as the
Dongan established the boundary lines of the province by settling disputes with Connecticut on the East, with the French Governor of Canada on the North, and with Pennsylvania on the South, thus marking out the present limits of New York State.[3] Regarding Canada, it was necessary to secure the friendship of the Iroquois. This became the subject of a deal of correspondence between Dongan and his counterpart to the north. "...[C]ertainly our rum doth as little hurt as your brandy and in the opinion of Christians is much more wholesome."[1] Dongan, along with Lord Howard of Effingham, Governor of Virginia, journeyed to the Iroquois nation around Albany in 1684, and convened assembly with them, garnering support, and approval. He was called "corlur" by the Iroquois Chief, a term from the Irish language "Coṁairleoir," used in Parliamentary deference to the Speaker, and meaning "advisor."[3][12][13]
Dongan established the first post office in New York in 1686 with the objective of promoting better communication between the American colonies.[3] In a 1687 report on the colony to the Committee on Trade in London, he also presciently described its remarkable early religious heterogeneity, which only grew across the centuries: "Here bee not many of the Church of England; few Roman Catholicks; abundance of Quakers preachers men and Women especially; Singing Quakers, Ranting Quakers; Sabbatarians Antisabbatarians; Some Anabaptists, some Independents; some Jews; in short of all sorts of opinions there are some, and the most part of none at all."[14]
James later consolidated the colonial governments of New York,
Dongan was to execute
In 1698, his brother
Death
Dongan lived in
Legacy
One of the greatest constructive statesmen ever sent to any English colony. The assembly which he created passed an act known as "The Charter of Liberties and Privileges" which assumed the sovereignty of the people and proclaimed religious liberty, the right of suffrage, trial by jury and no taxation without the consent of the assembly. Dongan's charter was the Magna Charta of American constitutional liberty. Many of its principles are embedded in the structure of our federal government.
—Poughkeepsie, NY
Notes
The last name of Dongan was later changed to Dungan to emulate the Irish dialect pronunciation of Dongan which sounds like Dungan. All Dungans today are related to this familial line.
Citations
- ^ a b c Channing, 1907, p. 336
- ^ Wauchope, 2004, pp. 523-524
- ^ a b c d e f g Driscoll, 1913, pp. 130-131
- ^ Browne, 1934, pp. 489-490
- ^ Kenyon, J.P. The Popish Plot 2nd Edition 2000 Phoenix Press p. 117
- ^ a b The Memorial History of the City of New York, page 400 (appointment)and 453 (supersession)
- ^ a b c Phelan, 1911, p. 207-237
- ^ Brodhead, 1872, v. ii, pp. 383-384
- ^ [[#andrews1964|Andrews, 1964, pp. 114-115
- ^ "City Charter | Albany, NY". www.albanyny.gov. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ "The Dongan Charter", New York State Museum
- ^ Phelan, 1933, pp. 64-66
- ^ Browne, 1934, p. 495-496
- ^ "Gov. Dongan's Report on the Province of New York," ed. E. B. O'Callaghan, Documentary History of the State of New York (Albany, 1849), I, 186'
- ^ Browne, 1934, p. 498-499
- ^ Wauchope, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
- Ref. John Dongan of Dublin, An Elizabethan Gentleman And His Family. Baltimore; Gateway Press, 1996.
Pages 141 – 151 reference Gov. Thomas Dongan.
Bibliography
- Andrews, Charles McLean (1964). The colonial period of American history. Vol. III. New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Browne, P. W. (September 1934). "Thomas Dongan: Soldier and Statesman: Irish-Catholic Governor of New York, 1683-1688". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 23 (91). Messenger Publications: 489–501. JSTOR 30079857.
- Channing, Edward (1907). Colonel Thomas Dongan, Governor of New York (PDF). American Antiquarian Society.
- Christoph, Peter R., ed. (1993). The Dongan papers : 1683-1688. Syracuse University Press.
- Driscoll, John T. (1913). Thomas Dongan. Vol. 5. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Knight Of Columbus Special Edition.
- ISBN 978-0-19510-7791
- Phelan, Thomas (December 1911). "Thomas Dongan, Catholic Colonial Governor of New York". Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia. 22 (4): 207–237.
- Phelan, Rev. Thomas (1933). Thomas Dongan, colonial governor of New York, 1683-1688. P.J. Kenedy & Sons.
- Wauchope, Piers (2004). Matthew, Henry Colin Gray; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford dictionary of national biography : in association with the British Academy : from the earliest times to the year 2000. Vol. XVI. ISBN 0198613660.
External links
- Thomas Dongan and the East Hampton Patent
- Thomas Dongan in 'Miscellaneous Limerick People' file at Limerick City Library, Ireland
- ^ Phelan, 1911, pp. 207-237