Insurrection.

After James II was forced to leave the throne in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Massachusetts overthrew the royal governor in charge of the Dominion of New England, and Dutch New Yorkers soon followed suit. The rebellious New Yorkers named a Dutch merchant, Jacob Leisler, to take charge of the province. He established control but in the process alienated the powerful English merchant families of the colony. Though Leisler's supporters were overwhelmingly Dutch, they had no desire to reinstate Dutch rule, only to alter the government under the recently created Dominion of New England. When the newly appointed governor arrived one evening in March 1691, Leisler refused to surrender the fort at New York City to him because it was after dark. His delay made him more vulnerable to the charge of treason, and a brief skirmish ensued. The next morning he turned the fort...