William Burnet (administrator) - Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Burnet was only briefly in New Hampshire during his short tenure, where unlike Massachusetts he was readily granted a salary for three years or the duration of his administration. At the time of his appointment to the Massachusetts seat, the province had been governed for a number of years by Lieutenant Governor William Dummer, acting for Governor Samuel Shute. Burnet made a hardnosed attempt to force the Massachusetts assembly to grant him a permanent salary. Since the institution of the royal charter in 1692, the assembly had steadfastly resisted this, choosing instead to make periodic grants to the governor. Local politicians found this an effective mechanism for influencing the governor to approve their policies, since the governor would never know when the next grant would be made, or how large it would be. The salary matter was one of many that had vexed Governor Shute during his time in the province. Dummer, a wealthy Massachusetts native, had been more conciliatory, only insisting that control of the provincial militia remain in his hands.

Burnet chose to take an extremely hard line on the subject of the salary: he refused to conduct any other business, or to dissolve the legislature, until the salary was decided. The legislature in turn refused to enact a salary bill, although it offered generous one-time grants that Burnet refused on principle. He further raised tensions by implicitly suggesting that the assembly's failure to act on the salary might jeopardize the colonial charter. In order to make life as difficult as possible for the legislators, Burnet relocated the assembly from Boston first to Salem and then Cambridge, increasing the costs of the legislators and forcing many of them from the comforts of their Boston-area properties. In November 1728 the assembly voted to send agents to London to argue their side of the issue with the Board of Trade. Its attempts to appropriate funds for the agents were denied by the governor's council, and the agents ended up being paid from funds raised by subscription.

In May 1729 the Board of Trade ruled, siding with Governor Burnet, but the assembly still refused to yield. Attempts to conduct business on other matters invariably became caught up in the salary dispute, and thus stalled. The dispute was still ongoing when Burnet, en route from Cambridge to Boston on 31 August, was thrown into water when his carriage accidentally overturned. He fell ill, and died on 7 September 1729. He was interred in the King's Chapel Burying Ground in Boston.

Lieutenant Governor Dummer again acted as governor until Burnet's replacement (Jonathan Belcher, one of the agents who had been sent to London) was selected and returned to the province. He took a similar position as Burnet, refusing annual grants until he was replaced as lieutenant (and acting) governor by William Tailer, who acquiesced to annual grants. Jonathan Belcher, who became governor later in 1730, was at first instructed as Burnet was on the matter of the salary, but during his tenure the Boards of Trade finally abandoned the instruction, and allowed him to receive annual grants.