Three of the New England Colonies had established churches prior to the Revolutionary War, all Congregational (Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Hampshire), while the Middle Colonies (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) and the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations had no established churches. Local taxes paid the salary of the clergy in the established churches, and the parish had civic responsibilities such as poor relief and promoting education. The local gentry controlled the budget, rather than the clergy. Anglicans in America were under the authority of the Bishop of London, who sent out missionaries and ordained men from the Colonies to minister in American parishes.