Our English Heritage 2
Mrs. Cox
Paisley IB
Civics/Economics
What Influenced Colonial
Government?
► English
citizens made many legal traditions
as they dealt with powerful monarchs. In
1215, nobles forced King John to sign the
Magna Carta. This gave nobles certain
privileges such as a trial by their peers and
equal treatment under the law.
What Influenced Colonial
Government?
► In
time, officials grew into a lawmaking
body, or legislature, called Parliament.
England’s Parliament removed King James II
from power in 1688-an event called the
Glorious Revolution. It also created the
English Bill of Rights. This document
promised Parliament free elections and fair
trials, and it stopped cruel punishments.
What Influenced Colonial
Government?
► English
common law was based on many
court decisions. Judges looked to
precedents to see how similar cases had
been decided. Common law applies to our
modern laws.
► People who were excited by scientific
discoveries shaped the movement called the
Enlightenment.
What Influenced Colonial
Government?
► Enlightenment
writers wanted independence
and equality for all people. John Locke
thought that freedoms such as life, liberty,
and property were natural rights. He
described a social contract, which said
people should obey their government only
as long as it protects their rights.
What Influenced Colonial
Government?
► In
France, Baron de Montesquieu said that
the branches of government should stop
one another from becoming too strong.
These ideas were put into the US
Constitution and Declaration of
Independence.
Colonial Traditions of SelfGovernment
► In
the 1600s and 1700s, England created
colonies in America, new settlements that
were ruled by the English government. The
people who moved to these colonies
brought with them their English traditions of
law and self-government.
Colonial Traditions of SelfGovernment
► The
first permanent English settlement, in
Jamestown, Virginia, was created in 1607. It
started as a business investment with
London businessmen providing money to
colonists. This type of investment was called
a joint-stock company. The businessmen
were given a charter by King James I, a
document giving them land and the power
to create a government.
Colonial Traditions of SelfGovernment
► Colonists
in Virginia were ruled by a
governor, but they slowly made their own
representative government body, called the
House of Burgesses.
► An English colony also was started in the
North. Colonists known as Pilgrims arrived
in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.
Colonial Traditions of SelfGovernment
► They
had drawn up a plan for government
on their trip from England. This agreement,
or compact, was named for their ship, the
Mayflower. The Mayflower Compact created
a system of direct democracy. Citizens held
town meetings to talk about problems. Only
men who owned property could vote.
Colonial Traditions of SelfGovernment
► In
1639, some Pilgrims moved from
Massachusetts to Connecticut to have more
religious freedom. There, they created the
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. This
plan of government had elections for
representatives.
Colonial Traditions of SelfGovernment
► Colonists
created thirteen English colonies in
America. The colonies were ruled by
governors who were elected or appointed
by the king. Colonists also had legislatures
with elected representatives. People living in
America used their knowledge of the English
Parliament and English common law to take
responsibility for their government and to
make their own decisions.
The English Colonies 2-2
► By
the middle of the 1600s, four colonies
had been set up in New England:
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut,
and New Hampshire.
► The Middle Colonies included New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
New York started out as a Dutch colony.
Settling the Colonies
► When
it was taken over by the English, King
Charles II gave it to his brother. At that
point, New York became a proprietary
colony. This means it was owned and
controlled by the same person. New Jersey
was formed from part of New York.
Settling the Colonies
► New
Jersey started out as proprietary
colony but later became a royal colony,
owned and rule directly by the King. William
Penn started the proprietary colony of
Pennsylvania when he was given a charter
from the king. The colony of Delaware was
created from part of Pennsylvania.
Settling the Colonies
► In
the South, Virginia grew from the jointstock colony of Jamestown and became a
royal colony in 1624. Carolina started out as
a proprietary colony, but eventually became
two separate royal colonies. James
Oglethorpe was given a charter to set up
Georgia, which was the last English colony.
People of the Colonies
► Many
colonist came to America in hopes of
finding religious freedom or improving their
fortunes.
► The New England and Middle Colonies were
settle by colonists who had been treated
badly for their religions in England. They
were religious dissenters who did not agree
with England’s official Anglican religion.
People of the Colonies
► Colonists
in Massachusetts called
themselves Puritans because they wanted to
cleanse, or purify, Anglicanism. They
thought they were on a religious journey, or
pilgrimage, and so they also were know as
Pilgrims. Quakers in Pennsylvania and
Catholics in Maryland also created colonies
where they could practice their religion
safely.
People of the Colonies
► Connecticut
was founded by a minister who
was looking for religious freedom. Rhode
Island was the first colony to practice
toleration, or acceptance of all faiths.
► Colonists in the South had come to North
America for the chance to earn money.
Some people set up large farms called
plantations to make a living growing crops
such as tobacco, rice, and indigo.
People of the Colonies
► Poor
people in search of a new way of life
came to the colonies as indentured
servants. Wealthy people agreed to pay for
the coast of indentured servants’
transportation and food. In exchange, the
servants agreed to work to pay back their
expenses. As farms grew, however, more
workers were needed to help on
plantations. To meet this need, planters
used enslaved Africans.
People of the Colonies
► As
this agricultural system grew, colonists created
what became know as the triangular trade. This
was a trading system that involved three places.
In this trading plan, sugar and molasses were
taken from the West Indies to America. There,
these goods were made into rum. From America,
rum was taken to Africa and traded for enslaved
people. Enslaved people were then shipped to the
West Indies and traded for sugar and molasses.
Colonial Society 2-3
► In
New England, the soil was rocky and
winters were long. Because the land was
not suited to farming, many people made
their living from the sea, by fishing,
whaling, and making ships. Others had
small businesses in which they sewed
clothes or made furniture.
The Economy
► The
soil and climate of the Middle Colonies
were better for farming. Colonists in New
York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and
Delaware were able to grow extra corps to
sell for profit. Also, these colonies had
industries such as sawmills, mines, and iron
works. European immigrants became an
important source of workers.
The Economy
► The
Southern Colonies, with warm weather
and rich soil, were best for farming. Rice
and tobacco were grown in the Tidewater
area near the seacoast and transported to
markets by river. The large plantations of
the South needed many workers, so
plantation owners depended on enslaved
African workers. The are did not have the
industry or trade found in the New England
and Middle Colonies.
An American Identity
► American
colonies had different traits. Even
with their differences, however, the colonies
had a culture that kept them together.
► Religion was one important part of the new
American culture. Many colonists had
come to America looking for religious
freedom. In Massachusetts, laws enforced
religious beliefs.
An American Identity
► Other
colonies separated religion from
government and encouraged tolerance. The
American colonies slowly created a policy of
accepting many religions. The Great
Awakening in the 1720s helped the
American colonists have new faith.
An American Identity
► Education
also helped shape American
culture. Colonists founded colleges such as
Harvard, Princeton, and William and Mary to
train ministers. Children were educated so
they could read the Bible, and some
colonies started public schools. However,
laws stopped enslaved people from learning
to read or write.
An American Identity
► In
early American culture, families were the
center of society. Men headed families, and
women and children did chores. Older
children assisted with the family’s farm
work. Women could not vote. Married
women had few rights, but unmarried or
widowed women could run businesses and
own property.
An American Identity
► Colonists’
ideas about the importance of
equality also brought the colonies together.
Their beliefs were shaped by Enlightenment
ideas about individualism and natural rights.
Also, the Great Awakening encouraged
people to depend less on people in power
and more on personal religious experience.
An American Identity
► As
a result of these influences, the sprit of
egalitarianism, or equality, was born. The
colonists were convinced that they should
have all the rights Britons had and should
have a voice in their government. However,
the British government did not let colonists
decide their own trade and tax policies.
Colonists started joining together against
the British government.
2-4 Birth of a Democratic Nation
► Under
Britain’s loose control, called a
“salutary neglect” policy, the colonies had
taken on more responsibility. Because of
mercantilism, however, Britain wanted to
make money. Mercantilism is the idea that a
nation’s power depends on its wealth. This
program was put into law with the
Navigation Acts.
Colonial Resistance
► Britain
had fought a war with France and
said that the colonies’ taxes should help pay
for war debts. The British government
passed taxes such as the Stamp Act and the
Quartering Act. These acts were passed in
Britain’s Parliament where colonists were
not represented.
Colonial Resistance
►
Colonists united to boycott, or refuse to
buy, British goods. They formed a Stamp
Act Congress, which sent their worries to
King George III. Parliament repealed, or
cancelled, the Stamp Act. Then, Parliament
made new laws. The Declaratory Act said
that Parliament had the right to tax the
colonies.
Colonial Resistance
► The
Townshend Acts allowed officers to
search for smuggled goods. Colonists
responded with anger. A 1770 protest in
which colonists were killed by British troops
become known as the Boston Massacre. The
Boston Tea Party of 1773 challenged a tax
on tea. The protest led to the Coercive Acts,
which colonists called the Intolerable Acts.
These laws restricted the colonists’ civil
rights.
Moving Toward Independence
► To
the fight the Intolerable Acts, colonists
from twelve colonies sent delegates, or
representatives, to a meeting in
Philadelphia. This meeting, was called the
First Continental Congress, made a list of
demands for King George III. Delegates
said that the king should restore their
rights, and they worked to make the boycott
of British products bigger.
Moving Toward Independence
This first gathering was held in 1774, and they
agreed to meet the following year if the king did
not respond as they wished.
► The colonists’ demands were met with force.
Before April 1775, many Americans though of
themselves as British subjects. After the battles
between colonials and British troops at Lexington
and Concord, however, colonists wanted
independence. The Revolutionary War had begun.
►
Moving toward Independence
► During
the Second Continental Congress,
held in May 1775, colonists talked about
how to respond to Great Britain. Support for
independence was growing, in part because
of pamphlets such as Thomas Paine’s
Common Sense. He thought the colonies
should stop following the king. Still, many
people were still loyal to Britain.
Moving Toward Independence
► Others
thought the colonist could not win a war
with Britain. However, by 1776, more than half the
people at the Second Continental Congress
decided to break ties with Britain.
► As the colonies broke away from Britain, the
Second Continental Congress became their new
government. ( This was anarchy by the way.) The
colonists decided that a group of people, led by
Virginia delegate Thomas Jefferson, would write a
declaration of independence. This document would
explain to King George III why the colonies should
be free.
The Declaration of Independence
► The
Declaration of Independence said that the
purpose of a government is to protect the rights of
the people. It said that government is based on
the agreement of the people, and the people can
change or remove a government if it ignores the
wishes of the people. On July 4, 1776, delegates
approved the document asking for the colonies’
freedom from Britain. Not until a war was fought
and won, however, did Great Britain accept the
colonies’ independence.