jpB^SfHE theory and practice of colonial self-government were of •%|M*i no sudden development in the Province of New York. Still Jtg^jl;, iess were they the result of mere observation and imitation ' of bold examples set by the people of other British colonies in America. In the earliest days of English rule, the people of New York were not only ready for any measure of self-government that might be granted to them, but were eager and aggressive in demanding the privileges of free men. Under the proprietary rule of that despotic prince, James, Duke of York, after nearly twenty years of exclusively personal administration through his gubernatorial representative, the province was, in 1683, conceded a certain share in the government by the erection of a legislative assembly. The very first act passed by that body was a proposed "Charter of Liberties and Privileges granted by his Royal Highness to the Inhabitants of New York and its dependencies," which was entirely in the line of popular participation in the direction of affairs and popular limitation of the functions of the executive. The Duke of York considered the manifestations of the assembly of 1683 so inconsistent with his notions of essentially prerogative government for the province that the New York legislature was never again convened while he retained authority, either during the remainder of the proprietary period or during his reign as king of England. The liberty-desiring people of the province harbored no kindly feeling for James as proprietor or James as sovereign, and when the news arrived of the Revolution of 1688 and the accession under liberal auspices of William, Prince of Orange, they hailed it with joy, treated James's lieutenant-governor, Nicholson, with scant courtesy, and finally expelled him from his post and organized a temporary government of their own which had all the character and effect of a purely republican regime, although without the slightest taint or suspicion of anarchy.