Colonial government

Origins of American Government

The Colonial Period

English Heritage

• Limited Government– Power of the ruler is

limited and not absolute.

– Magna Carta: signed in 1215 by King John

• Protected against unjust laws and loss of life, liberty, or property.

English Heritage

• Petition of Right– Parliament’s limit on Charles I

in 1628.– Limited power:

• Parliament had to approve taxes.• No imprisonment without just

cause.• No quartering of troops.• No martial law without war.

English Heritage

• Bill of Rights– Resulted from the Glorious Revolution

• Monarchs do not have a divine right to rule.• Parliament must give permission to suspend

laws, collect taxes, or maintain an army.• No interference with elections.• People have the right to petition the

government. • No cruel or unusual punishment.

English Heritage• Representative Government

– Government in which people elect delegates to make laws and conduct government.

• 2 chambers to Parliament:– House of Lords: nobility– House of Commons: elected businessmen and merchants from

middle class.

English Heritage

Parliament - London

Gordon Brown

English Heritage• John Locke

– Two Treatises on Government

• All people are born free, equal and independent

• Natural Rights: Life, Liberty, and Property

• If the government does not satisfy these rights, the people have a right to change the government.

• Influence of American Revolutionary documents.

Colonial Governments• Written Constitutions

– Mayflower Compact (1620)• Basic rules for the colony of Plymouth Rock, MA.• First plan of self-government in colonies.• Influenced the other colonies that followed.• Usually allowed people to elect their own governors, judges, and

representatives.

Colonial Governments

• Colonial Legislatures– Virginia House of Burgesses (1619)

• First representative government in the colonies• Showed that Americans could manage their

own affairs.• Requirement to vote was to own property; not

an issue in America.

Colonial Governments

• Separation of Powers– Division of the power of government

• Still must answer to the King; but considerable self-government

• Three branches– Legislative– Executive– Judicial