Chapter
4 Section 1
Set Question:
If you started your own colony what would be three
laws you would want in place to protect the rights
of the people in your colony?
Governing the Colonies
Chapter
4 Section 1
Objectives
• Explain how English political traditions
influenced the 13 colonies.
• Describe the responsibilities of early colonial
governments.
• Identify John Peter Zenger’s role in establishing
freedom of the press.
• Understand how the Navigation Acts affected the
colonies’ economy.
Governing the Colonies
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Terms and People
• legislature – a group of people who have the
power to make laws
• bill of rights – a written list of freedoms that a
government promises to protect
• habeas corpus – the principle that a person
cannot be held in prison without being charged
with a specific crime
Governing the Colonies
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How did English ideas about
government and trade affect the
colonies?
All English colonies shared a common English
heritage, and that heritage included the idea
that citizens had political rights.
England also promoted the theory of
mercantilism—that colonies existed to benefit
their parent country—but some colonists
began to question that theory.
Governing the Colonies
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In 1215, English nobles forced King John to
sign the Magna Carta, which was the first
document to place restrictions on an English
ruler’s power.
The rights listed in the Magna Carta were at first
limited to nobles.
Over time, the rights were extended to all English
citizens.
Governing the Colonies
Chapter
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Magna Carta - the first document to
place restrictions on an English ruler’s
power.
Governing the Colonies
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The Magna Carta:
• limited the monarch’s right to levy taxes
without consulting the nobles.
• protected the right to property.
• guaranteed the right to trial by jury.
Governing the Colonies
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Parliament
Great
Council
• Under the Magna Carta, nobles formed a Great
Council to advise the king, and this body developed
into the Parliament.
Two-House
Legislature
• Parliament was a two-house legislature.
• The House of Lords was made up of nobles who
inherited their titles.
• Members of the House of Commons were elected,
but only a few rich men and landowners had the
right to vote.
Taxes
• Parliament’s greatest power was that no monarch
could raise taxes without its consent.
Governing the Colonies
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In the 1640s, power struggles between King
Charles I and Parliament led to the English Civil
War.
King Charles I
Parliament
Parliamentary forces eventually won the war,
executed the king, and briefly ruled England.
Governing the Colonies
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In 1660, the monarchy was restored, but Parliament
retained its traditional rights.
In 1688’s Glorious Revolution,
Parliament removed King James
II from the throne and invited
his daughter Mary and her
husband William to rule.
A condition of their rule,
however, was that they sign
the English Bill of Rights.
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The English Bill of Rights:
• restated many of the rights granted by
the Magna Carta.
• upheld habeas corpus.
• required that Parliament meet regularly.
Governing the Colonies
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Habeas Corpus - the right of every prisoner to challenge
the terms of his or her incarceration in court before a judge.
Governing the Colonies
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The legal rights that Englishmen had won
over the centuries led the colonists to expect
a voice in their government.
Colonial
Governors
Colonial
Legislatures
Appointed by
the King
Most were
elected
By 1760, every British colony in North America
had a legislature of some kind, although the
legislatures sometimes clashed with the colonial
governors appointed by the king.
Governing the Colonies
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Virginia and Massachusetts
Virginia
• From 1619, the House of Burgesses—
the first legislature in British North
America—made laws for the
Jamestown Colony.
Massachusetts
• Massachusetts set up a legislature
called the General Court in 1629.
• In 1634, Massachusetts colonists
gained the right to elect delegates to
the General Court.
Governing the Colonies
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The British government gave William Penn
outright ownership of Pennsylvania.
But in 1701, the colonists forced Penn to agree
that:
• only the General Assembly—not Penn or
his council—could make laws.
• only the king could overturn laws passed
by the General Assembly.
Governing the Colonies
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British and colonial governments were similar in some
ways, but they had important differences.
Great Britain
American Colonies
King
Governor
• Inherited executive power
Parliament
• Appointed by and served the king
but paid by the colonial legislature
Colonial Legislatures
House of Lords
• Aristocrats with inherited titles also
inherited legislative power
Upper House or Council
• Appointed by governor
• Prominent colonists but without
inherited titles
House of Commons
• Elected by men who held significant
amounts of property
• Less than 1/4 of British men
qualified to vote
Lower House or Assembly
• Elected by men who held property
• About 2/3 of colonial men qualified
to vote
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In the colonies, 50 to 75 percent of
white men could vote, which was a far
greater percentage than in England.
But the following groups could not vote:
• English women, even those who
owned property.
• Native Americans.
• Africans, whether free or enslaved.
Governing the Colonies
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Another important right for American
colonists was the freedom of the press.
In England, writers
who criticized the
government were
punished, even if
what they said was
true.
Governing the Colonies
However, a trial in
the colonies
granted writers
new freedom to
publish the truth.
Chapter
4 Section 1
John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York
Weekly Journal, was charged with libel for
printing articles that criticized the governor.
Jurors found Zenger not guilty
because the articles he published
were based on facts.
Governing the Colonies
FACTS
Chapter
4 Section 1
The Zenger case helped establish the principle
that a democracy depends on well-informed
citizens.
Therefore, the press has a right and a
responsibility to keep the public informed of the
truth.
Today, freedom of the
press is recognized as a
basic American liberty.
Governing the Colonies
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While colonists maintained some important rights,
they felt burdened by Britain’s economic policies.
Under the theory of mercantilism, colonies existed
in order to enrich their parent country.
$
$
In 1651, the English
Parliament passed the first
of several Navigation Acts,
laws designed to funnel the
colonies’ wealth to England.
Governing the Colonies
$
$
$
$
$
Chapter
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The Navigation Acts
• Shipments of goods going from Europe to the Thirteen
Colonies had to go through England first.
• Imports going to England from the colonies had to be
transported by English built and owned ships.
• Colonists could only sell certain products to England, this
included tobacco, sugar and lumber.
Governing the Colonies
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Pros and Cons of the Navigation Acts
Pros
• Colonial traders had a sure market for their goods in
England.
• The law contributed to a booming shipbuilding
industry in New England.
Cons
• Many colonists began to resent the Acts because
they thought the Acts favored English merchants at
the colonists’ expense.
• Some colonists thought they could make more
money if they were free to sell to foreign markets
themselves.
• Some colonists smuggled goods to foreign markets
to avoid the Navigation Acts.
Governing the Colonies
Chapter
4 Section 1
Section Review
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