Our English Heritage

Our English Heritage

Influences on American Government Enlightenment • New ideas about law society and rights people

possessed. • Locke and Montesquieu argued laws that governed

nature also applied to humans. People were born free, equal, and independent.

• Natural Rights: Life Liberty and property (John Locke)• Separation of Powers (Montesquieu)• Social Contract: An agreement among people in a

society. Agree to give up part of their personal freedoms, and in return they will be protected by the government.

Influences on American Government

Sources of our Law • Greek Law: Everyone was expected to

participate, democracy, but each city had its own set of standards.

• Roman Law: Law was standardized and everyone was held to the same rules.

• Common Law: Made by judges when resolving cases, brought to America from the English courts.

• These cases set a precedent for later cases.

Influences on American Government

Magna Carta (1215)~Nobles not satisfied with the way King John was treating them.~Came together and created a document and forced the king to sign it. ~Limits the king’s power, states that no one is above the law (Rule of Law), guarantees trial by jury of one’s peers, and equal treatment under the law.

Parliament - Legislature~King Henry III, nobles and church officials come together (1300), but the king still holds most of the power. They are the law making body.

- House of Lords and House of Commons~English Bill of Rights: The monarch must get approval to create new courts, impose taxes, and raise an army.

Charters: written document granting land and the authority to set up colonial governments. ~Usually political leaders or wealthy merchants got charters for land.

Influences on American Government House of Burgesses: Established by the Virginia Company

~first representative assembly (2 reps from each community met with the governor)~marked the beginning of self-government in Colonial America (first legislature)

Town Meetings: held to address local problems~came from the Mayflower Compacts establishment of a direct democracy in the Pilgrims settlement in the New England region.~Although the meetings were public, only the men granted with land could vote on issues.

Colonies

Northern Colonies • Massachusetts• Rhode Island• Connecticut • New Hampshire

Geography, Culture, and Economy

Rocky Mountainous region. Long wintersAbundant woodsLarge scale farming was not an

option. Milling grain, sewing clothes,

or making furnitureMany ports

Colonies

Middle Colonies • New York• New Jersey• Pennsylvania • Delaware

Geography, Culture, and Economy

• Land more suited to agriculture.

• People traded crops with foreign markets.

• High demand for goods = busy ports.

Colonies

Southern Colonies • Maryland• Virginia • North Carolina• South Carolina • Georgia

Geography, Culture, and Economy

• Very warm climate• Rich soil • Access to the tidewater. • Large scale farming• The use of slaves was very

common. • Plantation owners had the

most power.

Colonies Triangular Trade Route • Trade among three regions• Transatlantic slave trade

~Ships travelled to America, Caribbean, and West Africa.~Traded cash crops, slaves, and manufactured goods.~Most crops sent to Europe. ~Manufactured goods sent back to American colonies for them to buy…~OR the crops were used to purchase more slaves~The voyage from West Africa to the Colonies was called

the Middle Passage. ~Along with trading crops, goods, and slaves came the

trading of disease and culture.

Road to Revolution

* Because the colonies began to self-govern themselves more; and the fact that the King was more directly concerned with events in Britain, the colonies became accustom to making their own decisions.

Road to Revolution Causes:~Mercantilism: Country’s power depends on its wealth British want more power Need

more wealth tax colonies ~French and Indian War = Steep Taxes and regulations to pay off this war debt

Proclamation 1763~Stamp Act (1765) : colonist to attach expensive stamps to important documents (direct

taxes)~Quartering Act(1765): colonist to feed and house British Soldiers ~Declaratory Act(1765) : As a result of the appeal of the Stamp Act. Parliament had the right

to make decisions for colonies~Townshend Acts (1767) : Indirect taxes on imported goods to Colonies, all goods taxed

- established a writ of assistance: Gave British officials the right to search any merchant they thought were smuggling goods without paying the tax.

~ Tea Act (1773): Britain had a surplus of tea to get rid of it they lowered the price Colonist thought they were being forced to buy it so Britain could get that tax money.

“No Taxation without Representation.”

Road to Revolution

Colonist Reaction ~ Boston Massacre (1770): Patriots antagonized British troops, who were quartered in Boston to discourage demonstrations against the Townshend Acts~ Boston Tea Party(1773): Colonist dump Tea into the Boston Harbor to protest the high taxes on goods.

Intolerable/ Coercive Act (1774): In response to the Boston Tea Party. Passed in an effort to get the colonies back under British Rule. Took the right away (especially in Boston), setting an example

Road to Revolution • Patriots:

– Ordinary colonists (farmers, shopkeepers, mechanics, regular townspeople)

– No happy financially, and don’t like taxes imposed by Britain.

– Believed they were at a disadvantage because they had no direct representation in England.

– Many were very bright local leaders

• Loyalists: Those who supported the King. – Usually older, and wealthy merchants or land owners.– Often referred to as Tories

Boston Massacre

Really a Massacre?

No, only 5 men died in total. And the British soldiers did not start it… The angry colonists antagonized them.

Boston Massacre

BUT

Paul Revere’s engraving, "The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street," made it seem like a much different event. (Propaganda)

Articles of the Confederation • Written during the American Revolution. • State leader realized that while they wanted to

have their own laws and constitutions, they would not survive on their own.

• Came together to create a Confederation with the other states.

• Confederation: An organization that consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league.

Articles of Confederation • Basics

– All the states ratified it in 1781– Considered the first written Constitution– States would maintain "sovereignty, freedom and

independence." – Set up a one house legislation (each state had one

vote)– Central powers were limited– Other states/territories would be admitted into the

Confederation if and only if the rest of the states could come to an agreement.

Articles of Confederation • Ordinance of 1785:

– System of surveying land in order to sell it to the settlers that wanted to move west of the Appalachian Mountains.

– Established township systems, something that is still seen today

• Northwest Ordinance – To solve the problem of governing the newly settled western

land.– Set a precedent for the method of admitting new states to the

Union. – “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said

territory.”

Created by Benjamin Franklin in 1754

First seen in the Pennsylvania Gazette

Used when Britain and France were fighting, but became a symbol of unity for the 13 colonies.

What do you think the message “Join, or Die” means?