Sir Edmund Andros (1637-1714), an English colonial governor in America, was an able though arbitrary administrator. Because his regime conflicted with the interests of colonial Puritan leaders, he became a symbol of oppression.

Edmund Andros was born in London on Dec. 6, 1637. He was descended from the feudal aristocracy of Guernsey, and his father was master of ceremonies in Charles l's court. The family was royalist during England's civil war, and Andros served in the army following the Restoration. In 1666 he went as a major with an infantry regiment to protect the British West Indies against the Dutch. Six years later he became a landgrave in Carolina colony but showed little interest in the venture, possibly because, on his father's death in 1674, he became both bailiff of Guernsey and governor of the Duke of York's American possessions.

Though plagued by controversy with proprietors in New Jersey, Dutch settlers resenting...