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The Charter of Liberties and Privileges was an act passed by the New York colonial assembly during its first session in 1683 that laid out the political organization of the colony, set up the procedures for election to the assembly, created 12 counties, and guaranteed certain individual rights for the colonists. The colony operated under the Charter until May of 1686 when Thomas Dongan, the governor of New York, received instructions from King James II that New York would be assimilated into the Dominion of New England. After the Glorious Revolution William and Mary appointed a new governor, who convened the colonial assembly on April 5, 1691. == Background == James, the Duke of York and the colonial proprietor of New York, was in exile in Brussels and Edinburgh from 1679-1681 during the Exclusion Crisis. Upon his return to England he appointed Dongan to succeed Edmund Andros as governor of New York. Dongan’s instructions, which were sealed by James on January 27, 1683, specifically directed Dongan to hold elections for a colonial assembly. Several factors contributed to James decision to extend representative government to his colony.() First, James was operating from a position of political weakness in England. He had been forced into exile by fears surrounding his succession and, although his brother Charles II had largely assuaged the fears of the exclusionists, there was still general popular uneasiness with his Catholicism. Second, the early 1680s were a time when legal opinions were generally in favor of the independence of local assemblies. In 1677 the Lords of Trade had tried to restrict the Jamaica assembly by writing Poynings' Law into the governor’s commission. This would essentially reduce the Jamaica assembly – as Poynings' Law had reduced the Irish Parliament – to merely approving laws initiated in the English Parliament with no original powers of its own. In response, Jones – the attorney general of England – issued an opinion holding that the people of Jamaica could only be governed by laws made there under the King’s authority. Third, New York was suffering from poor economic and political conditions in the early 1680s. As a result of these problems, Dongan was presented with a petition for representative government by the people of East Hampton upon his arrival in the summer of 1683. Although this petition could not have directly influenced James decision to allow for an assembly (since he had issued the instructions more than 6 months earlier), it is indicative of the general feeling of unrest in the colony at the time. These factors, combined with the fact that every other colony had a local assembly, convinced James that the calling of an assembly was the only way to insure stability and prosperity in the New York. In addition, recent struggles in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in which the colonial assemblies in those colonies asserted their right to representative government and to certain individual liberties informed the subsequent actions of the New York Assembly. Viewed in this light, the passing of the Charter is another instance of colonists attempting to carve out more space for themselves in their relationship with their proprietor.() 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charter of Liberties and Privileges」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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