that Governor Burnet had died quite suddenly. Belcher lobbied for and was awarded the job of governor of both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. This was accomplished in part by bypassing the Board of Trade and appealing directly to higher level ministers in the government, earning him the enmity of the powerful board secretary, Martin Bladen, who opposed his nomination. In accepting the appointment he was effectively promising to argue in the colony in favor of the position he had been sent to London to argue against. During Belcher's long tenure (he served from 1730 to 1741, one of the longer tenures of a Massachusetts provincial governor) he would argue with the colonial politicians that he was acting in their interest, while also working to convince London colonial administrators he was implementing their policies. Historian William Pencak writes that as a consequence, "By trying to keep on good terms with the province and the administration he lost the respect of both." Massachusetts While he was in London Belcher arranged for Lieutenant Governor Dummer to be replaced by William Tailer (whose appointment to that post in 1715 he had ironically managed to supersede by lobbying for Dummer's appointment), and recommended that Jeremiah Dummer (with whom his relations had become seriously strained) be dismissed as colonial agent. He was well received in Massachusetts upon his arrival in 1731, but immediately began to purge opponents and their supporters from positions over which he had control. This immediately put all on notice that he would freely use patronage power as a political weapon. One early issue Belcher took on was that of defending the established church. As an ardent Congregationalist (which was the establishment in Massachusetts) he perceived as dangerous the attempts of adherents of the Church of England in particular to gain exemptions from church taxes. He was willing to countenance such an exemption for the relatively modest number of Quakers, but refused to support one for the more numerous and politically connected Anglicans until it was apparent in 1735 that he would be instructed to do so. His support of the Quaker exemption brought him a potent support base in that community in London. In 1735, Belcher presided over a meeting in Deerfield at which the Stockbridge Indians agreed to accept Congregationalist missionaries and authorized the erection of a mission house. (The Mission House, built c. 1742 pursuant to this agreement, still stands,