he territory for
him without firing a shot, by giving away to two favorites, Lord
Berkeley, brother of the Governor of Virginia, and Sir George Carteret,
the rich domain between the Hudson and Delaware, which received the name
of New Jersey, and for many years that province was a theatre of
dissensions traceable to the autocratic and reckless course of the Duke.
The rights of settlers who had preceded the proprietary government were
ignored, and an attempt made to reduce freeholders to the position of
tenants. A large immigration of Quakers from England a few years after
the Dutch surrender added a valuable element to the population, in which
the Puritans, apart from the Dutch, had predominated. Puritans and
Quakers seemed to get along very well in the Jerseys, and with good
government on the part of the proprietors the colony would doubtless have
flourished. That for a number of years the Jerseys remained law-abiding
and comparatively tranquil without a regular civil government attests the
excellent character of the people.

The Duke of York showed more wisdom in the management of his greater
province of New York. In 1683 he instructed his governor, Thomas Dongan,
to call a representative assembly, which met in the fort at New York. The
assembly adopted an act called "The Charter of Liberties and Franchises,"
which was approved, first by the governor, and afterward by the duke.
This charter declared that the power to pass laws should reside in the
governor, council and people met in general assembly; that every
freeholder and freeman should be allowed to vote for representatives
without restraint; that no freeman should suffer but by judgment of his
peers; that all trials should be by a jury of twelve men; that no tax
should be levied without the consent of the Assembly; that no seaman or
soldier should be quartered on the inhabitants against their will; that
there should be no martial law, and that no person professing faith in
God by Jesus Christ should be disquieted or questioned on account of
religion. Two years later James, now become king, virtually abrogated
this charter by levying direct taxes on New York without the consent of
the people, by prohibiting the introduction of printing, and otherwise
assuming arbitrary power. He did not, however, suppress the General
Assembly, which became, as years advanced and the colony grew in
importance, more and more resolute in asserting the people's rights.

Governor Dong