Charter of Liberties and Privileges
The Charter of Liberties and Privileges was an act passed by the New York General Assembly in 1683. It set up how the colony would be governed, established how representatives would be elected, created 12 counties, and guaranteed certain rights for the colonists.
Thomas Dongan, the New York governor, was instructed by King James II to call elections for a colonial assembly. The Charter was approved by Dongan and his council and published on October 31, 1683. James II signed the Charter in England a year later, but after his death and James’s accession, the Charter was not delivered to New York.
James II later decided the Charter gave too much power to colonists. He did not confirm it, and New York was made part of the Dominion of New England under Governor Edmund Andros. In May 1686, new instructions disallowed the Charter. In the meantime, the colony operated as if the Charter were in place, and the assembly met three times.
New York faced economic and political troubles in the early 1680s. A petition from East Hampton asking for representative government showed this unrest and helped push the idea of local assemblies, especially since other colonies already had them.
After the Glorious Revolution, Andros was overthrown in 1689. In 1691, William III and Mary II appointed Henry Sloughter as governor and he convened a new assembly. It passed a law recognizing the rights and privileges of New York’s residents.
In short, the Charter was an early effort to give New Yorkers more self-government, but it was blocked by James II and the Dominion of New England. The 1691 act again established the rights and privileges of the colony’s inhabitants under a new regime.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:13 (CET).