New Hampshire: Polity Style: 1680-1686

24 Oct/3 Nov 1620	Ludovic Stewart Duke of Lennox and others are incorporated as a "Body corporate and politick" under the name of the Council established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of New England, in America, also known historically as the Council of New England, in accordance with letters patent (charter) issued by command of the King of England on 24 Oct/3 Nov 1620 (Hazard's Historical Collections, 1:103-118)
7/17 Nov 1629	John Mason is granted part of the territory of New England in America to be called by the name of New Hampshire, in accordance with an indenture of grant signed by the President and Council of New England and John Mason on 7/17 Nov 1629 (New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers, 1:21-26, 29:28-32) [1]
9/19 Oct 1641	the town of Dover and the lands upon the Piscataqua River (Portsmouth) are placed under the administration of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in accordance with a resolution of the General Court of Massachusetts of 9/19 Oct 1641 (Massachusetts Governor and Company Records, 1:342-343)
7/17 Sep 1643	the town of Exeter is placed under the administration of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in accordance with a resolution of the General Court of Massachusetts of 7/17 Sep 1643 (Massachusetts Governor and Company Records, 2:43-44)
22 Jan/1 Feb 1680	the towns and lands in the Province of New Hampshire, "lying and extending from three miles northward of Merrimack River, or any part thereof unto the Province of Maine," are placed under the administration of a President and Council, in accordance with a commission issued by command of the King of England on 18/28 Sep 1679, which was read and published in Portsmouth on 22 Jan/1 Feb 1680 (Laws of New Hampshire, 1:1-8; New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers, 19:655-656) [2]
22 Jan/1 Feb 1680 - 25 May/4 Jun 1686	Province of New Hampshire [3]
25 May/4 Jun 1686	the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, the Provinces of New Hampshire and Maine, and the Narragansett Country (King's Province) are placed under the administration of a President and Council of the Territory and Dominion of New England, in accordance with a commission issued by command of the King of England on 8/18 Oct 1685, which was read and published in Boston on 25 May/4 Jun 1686 (Massachusetts Royal Commissions, pp. 37-43; Dudley Records, pp. 226-230)

The indenture made on 7/17 Nov 1629 between the President and Council of New England and John Mason was the first document where the name New Hampshire was used to define the enfeoffed territories. Other grants of lands within the territory of the future State of New Hampshire included those to Edward Hilton (1631), John Mason (1635) and others. The towns and plantations established under these grants did not have a central government.
The commission was received by the President and Council on 1/11 Jan 1680 in Portsmouth, and was read at the session of the Council on 14/24 Jan 1680. The President and members of the Council took the oaths of office on 21/31 Jan 1680. Eventually, the commission was read and published on 22 Jan/1 Feb 1680 in Portsmouth.
The authority of the governors appointed by royal commissions between 1679 and 1728 did not extend over all that was called New Hampshire, but was limited by the right of jurisdiction to that part of the Province of New Hampshire, lying and extending itself from three miles northward of the Merrimack River, or any part thereof, to the Province of Maine, with the south part of the Isles of Shoals.