Episode 1 of 2

Dongan Charter Legal Effects

When: 1686
Where: Albany, New York
Part of: Granting of City Charters to New York and Albany

The Dongan Charter granted Albany title to unowned public property and serves as the legal framework for its current strong mayor-council government.

Under the charter, the city received title to all property not privately owned, securing public land. Albany's current strong mayor-council government functions under this Dongan Charter, which was granted by colonial governor Thomas Dongan in 1686.

Sources

Albany, New York Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-26

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.