Spencer Phips (June 6, 1685 – April 4, 1757) was a government official in theProvince of Massachusetts Bay. BornSpencer Bennett, he was adopted by Massachusetts Governor SirWilliam Phips, his uncle by marriage, whose name he legally took. Phips served for many years in the provincial assembly, and on the governor's council, before receiving an appointment as lieutenant governor in 1732, a post he held until his death. He was twice formally acting governor.

Spencer Bennett was born on June 6, 1685, inRowley,Massachusetts Bay Colony.His father, David Bennett, was a local physician,^[1] and his mother Rebecca's sister Mary was married to SirWilliam Phips,^[2] who became the first governor of theProvince of Massachusetts Bay in 1692.^[3][4] Bennett was adopted by the childless Phips, and formally took his name in 1716.^[2] He graduated fromHarvard College in 1703 (listed at the top of the class because of the prominence of his family).^[5] In 1706 he purchased a large tract of land encompassing much of easternCambridge, where he settled. He married Elizabeth Hutchinson in 1707, with whom he had eleven children;^[3][5] five, one son and four daughters, survived him.^[3]

In 1713 he was appointed ajustice of the peace forMiddlesex County, and was also made colonel of a cavalry regiment in thecolonial militia. He entered politics in 1721, winning election to the provincial assembly. He was, however, appointed to the governor's council that year, and thus did not take the assembly seat. He served in the council until 1724.^[5] From 1714 until 1755, Phips was recorded as owning fiveslaves: Tobe, Cuffy, Rose, Zillah and James.^[6]

Following the death of Lieutenant GovernorWilliam Tailer in March 1731–1732, Phips was appointed to the post, in which he served under GovernorsJonathan Belcher andWilliam Shirley until his death. The reasons for his appointment are unknown: he did not appear to have the support of Belcher, who sought the appointment of others to the post.

Twice during his term he was acting governor for an extended period while Shirley was absent. The first time was in 1749 when Shirley took several years' leave to participate in boundary negotiations with France, returning in 1753. Later, in 1756, he took over again when Shirley returned to England to defend himself against charges of treason and incompetence.

During Shirley's extended absence beginning in 1749, Phips was seen as a somewhat weak executive. Shirley, not expecting his absence to be as long as it was, instructed Phips to avoid filling vacancies for offices that the governor made appointments for, and that any appointments he made should expire upon Shirley's return.^[7] The provincial assembly generally dominated affairs, led by fiscally conservative leaders such as House SpeakerThomas Hutchinson, who were opposed to the inflationary issuance of paper money.^[8] Phips implemented currency reforms advocated by Hutchinson to finally settle the province's longstanding problems with inflationary paper currencies. In 1751 he signed legislation authorizing the exchange of the province's unbacked paper currency for silver-based currency, and vetoed an attempt to issue paper currency.^[9][10]

During parts of 1754 to 1756, Shirley was often out of the province on military business associated with theFrench and Indian War, and gubernatorial duties fell to Phips during those periods.^[11] The principal issue during this time was the arrival in November 1755 of several ships containingAcadians, who the British authoritieshad begun deporting fromNova Scotia after theBattle of Fort Beauséjour.^[12] The expenses incurred with housing and caring for about 1,000 Acadians burdened a provincial treasury already bearing the heavy demands of wartime. This prompted Phips to write to Nova Scotia GovernorCharles Lawrence, demanding compensation for the care of the Acadians.^[13] In 1756, when Acadians who had been resettled inGeorgia were found sailing north, apparently intent on returning to Nova Scotia, Phips again complained to Lawrence that Massachusetts was unable to handle any more Acadians.^[14]

Phips was one of a group of landowners of a large tract of land on the central coast of modernMaine, then part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1719 the proprietors began to develop the area, establishing the communities ofThomaston andWarren.^[15] The indigenousAbenaki people objected to these settlements, claiming that their leaders who had made the original land grants had done so without proper authority. This dispute eventually escalated into a conflict known asDummer's War, which lasted from 1723 until 1727.

In November 1749, Phips proclaimed the end of hostilities between Massachusetts and the Abenaki, who had sided withNew France during the recently concludedKing George's War (1744–1748), but were not signatories to theTreaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ending the European conflict. The following month one Abenaki was killed and two wounded by settlers inWiscasset, Maine. The incident divided the leadership of the colony from its citizenry; Phips sought to maintain peace with the Abenaki, while the local citizenry believed the killings did not merit punishment. Mob action freed the suspects on more than one occasion, and only one of the men accused in the deeds was tried; he was acquitted. The perceived failure to serve justice heightened tensions with the Abenaki, some of whom embarked on a series of raiding expeditions against frontier communities. Massachusetts authorities were able to smooth over relations by satisfying Abenaki demands for justice by providing valuable gifts to the affected families. It was not until 1752 that the matter was finally closed at a peace conference.^[16]

A wider war, however, combined with frontier disagreements to again bring conflict to Maine. After hearing rumors of French fortifications on the northern Maine frontier, Shirley began rearming the province in March 1754. He ordered the construction ofFort Halifax on theKennebec River, prompting the Abenakis to increase raiding activity.^[17] Because of these raids Massachusetts declared war on the Abenakis, "thePenobscot Tribe only Excepted".^[18] The Penobscots, however, were diplomatically trapped between the sides, seen as pro-British by the French, and distrusted by Maine colonists, and many Penobscots began siding with the French after an unprovoked attack by a group of New England militiamen on a native fishing party atOwls Head in July 1755.^[19][20]

In November 1755, while Shirley was absent from the province, Phips issued a proclamation declaring a war of extermination on the Penobscot, civilians included, offering scalp bounties.Phips Bounty Proclamation Scalps for males over the age of 12 were to be worth 50 pounds, females of the same age 25 pounds, male children under 12 netted 25 pounds, and female children under 12 fetched 20 pounds. Within a year of the proclamation, the Massachusetts assembly voted to raise the ceiling on the bounty to an unprecedented 300 pounds.^[20] Following a major raid againstSt. George in spring 1758,^[21] GovernorThomas Pownall in 1759 took possession of thePenobscot River and the tribe's homeland "by armed force".^[22]

Phips' second term as acting governor, begun after Shirley's recall, was brief, and dominated by Thomas Hutchinson, then a leading member of Shirley's administration.^[23] Phips was elderly and ill, and died six months after Shirley left for England.^[24] The council then held the reins of power until the arrival of the new governor, Thomas Pownall.

The town ofSpencer, Massachusetts, is named for Spencer Phips.^[25]

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• Bourque, Bruce (2001).Twelve Thousand Years: American Indians in Maine. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.ISBN 978-0-8032-1310-4.OCLC 44860928.
• An Historic Guide to Cambridge
• Draper, James (1841).History of Spencer from its Earliest Settlement to the Year 1841. Worcester, MA: Spooner and Howland. p. 29.OCLC 6688288.
• Freiberg, Malcolm (June 1957). "Thomas Hutchinson and the Provincial Currency".The New England Quarterly.30 (2):190–208.doi:10.2307/362313.JSTOR 362313.
• Freiberg, Malcolm (January 1958). "Thomas Hutchinson: The First Fifty Years (1711–1761)".The William and Mary Quarterly.15 (Third Series, Volume 15, No. 1):35–55.doi:10.2307/1918707.JSTOR 1918707.
• Gage, Thomas; Bradford, James (1840).The History of Rowley. Boston: F. Andrews. p. 390.OCLC 2435754.
• Lounsberry, Alice (1941).Sir William Phips. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.OCLC 3040370.
• Lowe, Richard (April 1968). "Massachusetts and the Acadians".The William and Mary Quarterly.25 (Third Series, Volume 25, No. 2):212–229.doi:10.2307/1919092.JSTOR 1919092.
• Nicolar, Joseph.The Life and Traditions of the Red Man (Durham: Duke U. Press, 2007).
• Palfrey, John Gorham (1890).History of New England, Volume 5. Boston: Little, Brown.ISBN 9781429023122.OCLC 1658888.
• Pencak, William (1981).War, Politics & Revolution in Provincial Massachusetts. Boston: Northeastern University Press.ISBN 9780930350109.OCLC 7178895.
• Pownall, Thomas.A Topographical Description of the Dominions of the United States of America. (New York: Arno Press, 1976, republication of 1949 Pittsburgh Press edition).
• Raimo, John (1980).Biographical Directory of American Colonial and Revolutionary Governors, 1607–1789. Westport, CT: Meckler Books.ISBN 9780930466077.OCLC 231048944.
• Robinson, Reuel.History of Camden and Rockport, Maine

• Phips Proclamation

• 1685 births
• 1757 deaths
• American slave owners
• Colonial governors of Massachusetts
• Harvard College alumni
• Lieutenant governors of colonial Massachusetts
• People from Rowley, Massachusetts

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