• America was settled in the
mid 16th century by
Europeans
• England sent the most settlers
& controlled the 13 colonies
along the Atlantic coast
The English brought their knowledge and ideas about government:
• Ordered Government- local governments with offices we still
have: sheriff, coroner, assessor, justice of the peace, grand jury,
counties, townships, etc.
• Limited government
• Representative government
Magna Carta- document that the barons forced King John to sign in
1215Intended originally for only the privileged class to protect them
from arbitrary acts of the king
• Eventually expanded to all Englishmen
• Included rights such as: trial by jury, due process of law-arbitrary
taking of property or life
• First time a monarch was denied absolute power in Europe
• Ignored by many monarchs for the next 400 years
Petition of Rights-document that Parliament
forced King Charles I to sign in 1628
• Parliament controlled the money and refused
to release the funds to the king until he
signed
• Stated that the king could not imprison or
punish anyone without a trial
• Could not impose martial law in peacetime
• Could not require homeowner’s to shelter
(quarter) the king’s troops without consent
• Challenged Divine Right rule-the idea the
king was above the law
English Bill of Rights-document
Parliament forced William and Mary
to sign before they accepted the
crown after the English Civil War in
1689
• Required that all parliamentary
elections be free
• No suspension of laws without
consent of Parliament
• Taxes and spending of money must
be approved by Parliament
• Subjects can petition the king
without punishments
• Right to a fair trial, freedom from
excessive bail, freedom from cruel
and unusual punishment
• The colonies were known as the “schools of government” for the
future Americans
• Each colony was established for different reasons and had
different beginnings
• They had slight differences in their governments, but all had
English law and government as their basis
• The colonial governments served as places for the Americans to
learn how to govern
• The royal governors ruled with a stern hand-it was their actions
which would eventually lead to a revolution
• Each colony had a legislature; VA
had a bi-cameral legislature:
-The upper house was
made up of the council
selected by the King
-The lower house (House of
Burgesses) were
representatives elected by
property owners who were
qualified to vote
• A royal governor was appointed by
the king
• The colonies were ruled by the king from
2,000 miles and a two-month sea journey
away
• Parliament paid little attention to the colonies;
left them to the King
• Colonies had a large amount of self-rule until
King George
• England provided them military defense,
common currency and trade, and controlled
foreign affairs; with very little taxation
• England spent much money on the
defense of the colonies during the
French and Indian War.
• The king instituted new trade
regulations and taxes in order to
have the colonists help pay for the
cost of the war
• They maintained large troop levels
in the colonies after the war
• The colonists objected to the troops,
taxes, and restrictions; especially
since they had no vote in
Parliament
• The Boston Tea Party was a protest
against the trade regulations and
new taxes
• Albany Plan-(1754) plan by Ben Franklin that called for a
meeting once a year of delegates from each colony with the
power to raise a military, regulate trade with the Native
American tribes, raise taxes
• The crown rejected the Albany Plan
• Stamp Act Congress- (1765) 9 colonies sent delegates to New
York to raise opposition to the Stamp Act
• Boston Massacre-1770- British troops fire on a crowd of
colonists
• Boston Tea Party- 1773
• 1st Continental Congress-1774- Sam and John
Adams, John Dickinson, John Jay, George
Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry,
John Rutledge
• They sent a Declaration of Rights and urged to
king to repeal the new taxes
• They asked all colonies to boycott British goods
until they repealed the Intolerable Acts
• 2nd Continental Congress-1775-England had rejected the
Declaration of Rights-The battles of Lexington and Concord had
been fought
• Ben Franklin and John Hancock joined the members of the 1st
Congress
• Immediately they placed George Washington in charge of a
Continental Army
• Thomas Jefferson took his place in the delegation
• Britain condemned the congress as traitors
• It became our first national government for five years
• In June 1776 congress named 5 men-Franklin, Adams, Roger
Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Jefferson to write a
Declaration of Independence
• The document is almost entirely of Jefferson’s creation, based
on Locke’s ideas of government
• Congress adopted it on July 4, 1776
• Page 40 of your text
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Ratified March 1781
Established a “firm league of friendship”
Each state kept its sovereignty and every power
The states were to come together for their mutual defense and
mutual and general welfare
• The articles had one government branch-a legislature with one
vote for each colony
• Congress had no authority to enforce the Articles and could not
regulate trade between the states
• One vote for each state, regardless of size
• Congress powerless to lay and collect taxes
or duties
• Congress powerless to regulate foreign and
interstate commerce
• No executive to enforce acts of Congress
• No national court system
• Amendment only with consent of all 13 states
• A 9/13 majority required to pass laws
• Delegates met in Philadelphia to recommend changes but
instead resolved to create a new government
• Elected Washington as the president of the Constitutional
Convention
• James Madison quickly became the leader and is known as the
“Father of the Constitution”
• Virginia led the way in calling for a new constitution
• Called for three branches of government; Executive, Legislative,
Judicial
• Legislative branch was to be bi-cameral
• Representation was to be based on population or the amount of
$ given to the central government
• Lower House- House of Representatives- elected representatives
• Upper House-Senate- chosen by the House from a list provided
by the State legislatures
• Congress would select a “National Executive”, and a “National
Judiciary” who could veto acts of Congress; but their veto could
be overridden
• Congress could legislate cases involving different States
• Congress could veto any state law, use force if necessary to
compel the states to follow any law
• It created a very strong central government led by the
legislature
• PA and MA favored the plan
• Smaller states opposed it
• Unicameral House with all states
represented equally
• Gave the legislature the power to tax
and regulate trade
• Federal executive of more than one
person chosen by Congress
• The major disagreement between the
larger and smaller states was the
issue of representation
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Bi-Cameral Legislature
House of Representatives based on population
Senate- equal representation
Next big argument was how should they count slaves?
South wanted to count every slave
North opposed this idea
3/5 Compromise- Free people counted as one; “All
others(slaves) would be counted as 3/5 of a person
• The 3/5 compromise dissappeared from the Constitution with
the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in 1865
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Greek and Roman governments
Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws- separation of powers
Rousseau and Locke
Framers drew on their own governing experience
Continental Congress
Articles of Confederation
State Governments
• There was much disagreement and debate about the
Constitution
• Federalists- favored ratification; Washington, Adams, Madison
and Alexander Hamilton
• Anti-Federalists- opposed ratification; Patrick Henry, Sam
Adams, Richard Henry Lee, John Hancock, Thomas
Jefferson(originally-eventually favored it)
• Anti-Federalists did not like how much power it gave to federal
government and that it did not have a Bill of Rights
• Got the necessary 9 to ratify but without VA or NY did not
matter
• The Federalist- political essays published in favor of ratification
written by Madison, Hamilton, and John Jay
• VA and NY finally approved the Constitution
• Ratified in 1788
• Washington sworn in as first president in New York City