Their
territories had originally been granted by the crown to a person known
as the Lord Proprietary, and the lord-proprietorship descended from
father to son like a kingdom. In Maryland it was the Calvert family that
reigned for six generations as lords proprietary. Pennsylvania and
Delaware had each its own separate legislature, but over both colonies
reigned the same lord proprietary, who was a member of the Penn family.
These colonies were thus like little hereditary monarchies, and they had
but few direct dealings with the British government. For them the lords
proprietary stood in the place of the king, and appointed the governors.
In Maryland this system ran smoothly. In Pennsylvania there was a good
deal of dissatisfaction, but it generally assumed the form of a wish to
get rid of the lords proprietary and have the governors appointed by the
king; for as this was something they had not tried they were not
prepared to appreciate its evils.

[Sidenote: The crown colonies and their royal governors]

In the other eight colonies--New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New
Jersey, Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia--the governors were
appointed by the king, and were commonly known as "royal governors."
They were sometimes natives of the colonies over which they were
appointed, as Dudley and Hutchinson of Massachusetts, and others; but
were more often sent over from England. Some of them, as Pownall of
Massachusetts and Spotswood of Virginia, were men of marked ability.
Some were honest gentlemen, who felt a real interest in the welfare of
the people they came to help govern; some were unprincipled adventurers,
who came to make money by fair means or foul. Their position was one of
much dignity, and they behaved themselves like lesser kings. What with
their crimson velvets and fine laces and stately coaches, they made much
more of a show than any president of the United States would think of
making to-day. They had no fixed terms of office, but remained at their
posts as long as the king, or the king's colonial secretary, saw fit to
keep them there.

[Sidenote: The question as to salaries]

Now it was generally true of the royal governors that, whether they were
natives of America or sent over from England, and whether they were good
men or bad, they were very apt to make themselves disliked by the
people, and they were almost always quarrelling with their legislative
assemblies. Questions were alwa