proprietary colony

American  

noun

American History.

1. any of certain colonies, as Maryland and Pennsylvania, that were granted to an individual or group by the British crown and that were granted full rights of self-government.

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proprietary colony British  

noun

1. history any of various colonies, granted by the Crown in the 17th century to a person or group of people with full governing rights

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Example Sentences

Maryland was a proprietary colony whose owner held full rights to govern as he saw fit, so long as his laws did not conflict with England’s.

From Textbooks

In the proprietary colony of Maryland the Calverts also attempted to establish a landed aristocracy, and give to the manorial lords certain rights of jurisdiction over their tenants drawn from the feudal system of Europe.

From Project Gutenberg

A golden dream of empire, with its promise of an independent republic in the form of a proprietary colony, casts him under the spell of its alluring glamour.

From Project Gutenberg

New York was now a proprietary colony like Maryland, its overlord being the Duke of York, and when in 1685 he became King of England New York became a Crown Colony.

From Project Gutenberg

In 1681 Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn as a proprietary colony.

From Project Gutenberg