Just like the people and religions practiced here, the government in the Middle colonies was quite diverse. For instance, Pennsylvania was a proprietary colony. In a proprietary colony, the king gave land to one or more people and those individuals ran the colony how they wanted. The Quakers that ran Pennsylvania allowed their colonists a great deal of political freedom and self-government. Free men in the colony elected 200 representatives to the Pennsylvania General Assembly each year. These men voted on laws that were proposed by the Provincial Council, 72 men who were also elected annually. A Governor oversaw the legislature. On the other hand, the people living in New York did not enjoy as much political freedom. That is because it was a royal colony – a colony that was run by a governor that was appointed by the King of England. The royally appointed governor made all of the laws and there was little self-government. Over time the colonists were able to gain more freedom (the right to elect the mayor of New York City, the chance to set up an Assembly), but these freedoms did not always last long.