[2][3] Under Col. Fletcher, piracy was a leading economic development tool in the city's competition with the ports of Boston and Philadelphia.

Other financiers of piracy were Frederick Philipse, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, Peter Schuyler, and Thomas Willet.

[8] Fletcher had gotten payments from pirates – mostly small sums except when some grateful buccaneers gave the governor their ship, which netted him £800.

Edward Randolph, the Crown's agent overseeing trade, amassed evidence that doomed Fletcher's tenure and helped anoint Lord Bellomont as the new governor of New York.

King William wanted to end the pacifism in the Pennsylvania and mold the northern colonies into a unified military force for opposing the French in Canada.

Fletcher was able to appoint provincial Council members and he pushed through a taxation bill (on lightly taxed Pennsylvania).

However, in 1694, the Assembly reallocated a substantial portion of the tax revenue to Thomas Lloyd and William Markham (who Fletcher appointed as Deputy Governor in his absence).