Reviewed by Alison G. Olson | Book Review | The William and Mary Quarterly, 60.4 | The History Cooperative

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Reviewed by Alison G. Olson | Book Review | The William and Mary Quarterly, 60.4 | The History Cooperative

Reviews of Books

Revisiting the Governors General

The Imperial Executive in America: Sir Edmund Andros, 1637–1714. By MARY LOU LUSTIG. (Madison, N. J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2002. Pp. 339. $59.50.)

General Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester: Soldier-Statesman of Early British Canada. By DAVID PAUL NELSON. (Madison, N. J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2000. Pp. iv, 295. $45.00.)

Reviewed by Alison G. Olson , University of Maryland

    The Imperial Executive in America: Sir Edmund Andros and General Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester are two remarkably similar biographies of two remarkably similar individuals, military men who parlayed army careers into highly important colonial administrations. Sir Edmund Andros (1637–1714) was head of England's only significant effort to combine several mainland colonies in one administrative unit, the Dominion of New England. Sir Guy Carleton (1724–1808), as governor and military commander of Canada at the beginning and then at the end of the American Revolution, was expected to assume overall command of the British army in North America once his forces were joined with General Howe's in New York. Between them, Andros and Carleton opened and closed the culminating century of the first British empire: Andros was one of the first career colonial servants, initiating British efforts to establish uniform government over the North American mainland, while Carleton, nearly a hundred years later, attempted to establish a unified command before he finally had to direct British withdrawal from the United States. 1

    After several tours of duty in the English West Indies and on the Continent, Andros began his political career as governor of New York, appointed because of his friendship with the proprietor, James, duke of York. His outstanding achievement was to negotiate a treaty with the Indians that saved New York from the destructive Indian attacks New England had suffered in 1676. Andros was recalled to England during the Exclusion Crisis and returned to the colonies as governor of the Dominion of New England when James became king. He was called back to England again after the Glorious Revolution, returned to the colonies shortly afterward, and recalled once again through the machinations of enemies in England and America. He divided his last years between London and his ancestral home in Guernsey. 2

    After service in the British army on the Continent, Carleton was transferred to Canada. Through his friendship with British ministers he became governor of Canada in 1768, a post he held for a decade until he was recalled. As Andros had distinguished himself through respect for the Indians, Carleton was highly respectful of the customs of the French Canadians who had become British subjects after the Seven Years' War. In 1782, he returned to America, first as commander in chief and four years later as governor of Canada. In 1796, he was once again replaced and returned home for the last time. . . .

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