NEW YORK

It was a quasi constitution in limited areas and declared the representatives of the people coordinate with the governor and council, and that no taxes could be laid without their consent—a degree of freedom and self-determinism what was far greater than those of the other colonies save Pennsylvania. Several years earlier, the English portion of the colony clamored for representative government and was ready to break into open rebellion against Governor Edmund Andros and the authority of the Duke of York. The Duke promised an elected assembly and 18 elected New Yorkers constituted the first representative assembly. Their first act was to pass the Charter of Liberties which was approved by the Duke’s new Governor Thomas Dongan. So the Charter of Liberties was the first set of laws in America passed by a vote of elected representatives of the people.

It was a quasi constitution in limited areas and declared the representatives of the people coordinate with the governor and council, and that no taxes could be laid without their consent—a degree of freedom and self-determinism what was far greater than those of the other colonies save Pennsylvania. Several years earlier, the English portion of the colony clamored for representative government and was ready to break into open rebellion against Governor Edmund Andros and the authority of the Duke of York. The Duke promised an elected assembly and 18 elected New Yorkers constituted the first representative assembly. Their first act was to pass the Charter of Liberties which was approved by the Duke’s new Governor Thomas Dongan. So the Charter of Liberties was the first set of laws in America passed by a vote of elected representatives of the people.