Colonial government

DEMOCRACY OF ANCIENT GREECE (ATHENS)

REPUBLIC OF ANCIENT ITALY (ROME)

Government by the people Direct democracy: All

eligible citizens participated in government

Requires an educated citizenry

Voters elect representatives who speak and act for the citizens in the business of government

Representatives are to work for the common good

“Representative democracy”

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Magna Carta – June 15, 1215- King cannot collect new

taxes without consent of the Great Council (an advisory board)

- King must pay for property, not simply seize it

- King cannot sell, refuse, or deny justice

- Citizens were guaranteed a trial by jury of peers

- King’s power was limited and it was emphasized that he was not above the law

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Petition of Rights – 1628- Parliament must give

approval for all new taxes

- Habeas corpus: No imprisonment without trial

- No quartering of soldiers by the citizenry

- No martial law allowed in times of peace

- An outline of basic rightsImage courtesy of www. east-buc.k12.ia.us/00_01/CA/ hd6.htm

English Bill of Rights - 1689- Parliament chose the

ruler, who was subject to the law

- Parliament rulers had the right to freely express themselves

- Citizens could petition government for relief of injustices

- No excessive bail, or cruel and unusual punishment

- Representative government and the law outweighs power of any monarch

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John Locke- People are born with

certain rights: life, liberty, property

- “Social Contract Theory:” People enter into contract with the government. The job of the govt. is to protect people’s rights. If it fails to do so, the contract is broken and the people may change or replace the govt. Therefore, the govt. exists only with the consent of the governed.

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Montesquieu (French philosopher)

- Recognized the need for a balance of power among different branches of govt., to avoid an excess of power in one particular branch Image courtesy of

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Voltaire (French philosopher)

- Religious toleration; freedoms of practice

- Freedom of speech- “I may detest what

you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.”

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- Formed in 1570 as a loose alliance between the six nations to protect their way of life and hunting grounds from outside threats

- Each nation sent 10 chiefs to act as representatives at the Grand Council

- The Council made decisions about items that would affect the entire Confederacy

- Each nation had an opportunity to speak on the issue

- Nations also had independent rules and decisions that the Council did not interfere with

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House of Burgesses (Virginia 1619)

- First representative body in Colonial America

- A bicameral (two-house) legislature modeled after British Parliament that could raise taxes and make laws; the governor could veto any law

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Mayflower Compact (November 1620)

- created by the Pilgrims to agree that they would be governed by a government that they created

- John Adams and many historians have referred to the Mayflower Compact as the foundation of the U.S. Constitution written more than 150 later

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- Colonies eventually adapted to a basic structure of govt.

- Included a Royal Governor (appointed by Britain), a council (appointed by the governor), and an assembly (elected by the colonists)

- British Parliament agreed with these governments, thus allowing many years of salutary neglect (the English policy of interfering very little in colonial affairs from about 1690 to 1760. During these years the colonists were given a good deal of autonomy in local matters, and the English king and parliament rarely legislated constraints of any kind. In turn, the colonists supported England.)

- These governments believed that their own representatives could pass laws that affected their colonies

- This belief kept the individual colonies from joining together in a “common defense” as suggested by Benjamin Franklin until the late 1760s

- This belief caused much of the turmoil leading to the American Revolution