The linchpin of colonial administration under regulatory imperialism was the royal governor. The crown relied on royal governors to control the colony’s political agenda, especially on fiscal matters. Yet, in most colonies, assemblies managed to invert this plan and claim almost complete fiscal power for themselves – one of the most important developments under imperial administration in the New World. To explain this, the present chapter develops a strategic logic of bargaining between assemblies and governors and the accountability of governors to the crown. The logic shows how governors were able to make major political concessions to assemblies, yet evade accountability to the crown for them. As a result, regulatory imperialism was unable to restrain the independence of colonial legislatures.