
The purpose of this lesson is twofold –
 One idea is to dispel the notion that Britain was ruled by a
tyranny in the mid-18th century whereby ordinary citizens
had no say in their government and had few rights
protected by the government.
 The second idea is dismiss the mantra “No taxation,
without representation” which became a rallying cry for
colonists fighting for independence from Britain. As you
will see, settlers in the colonies had more representation
and greater rights than Englishmen living in mainland
Great Britain at the time of the Revolution.

I can explain how constitutional government developed in England
with reference to the importance of the Magna Carta, the Model
Parliament, the Petition of Right, and the English Bill of Rights.

I can describe the goals of American Colonists in establishing their
own governments and describe five keys ideas which influenced
the creation of colonial governments.

I can describe the differences between Royal, Proprietary and
Charter Colonies.

I can describe the role and function of the executive and legislative
branches in American colonial government.

I can explain why colonists challenged the rule of Edmund Andros
and the importance of the Zenger trial verdict.

A constitution is a legal framework for government
which outlines how a government is to be organized
and run.

Having a constitution does not mean that a nation has
a constitutional government.

A constitutional government means that there are
limits on the powers of the person or people running
the government.

The word limits means things that government may
not do or actions that it may not take.

For example, limits to the power of our
government are written into the Constitution.

In some nations, the power of government is not
limited: the constitution in those nations may
allow for the use of unlimited power.

In other cases, the constitution might say that
the power of government is limited but neglect
to say how those limits are to be enforced.

Turn to a partner and in 2 minutes discuss the
following question:

What is a constitutional government?

The powers of the government are limited.
Often times these limitations are written
down in a legal framework.

Constitutional government developed in Great Britain
over several centuries

Feudalism was a system of social, economic, and
political organization
 The king could not rule all the land effectively so he gave
some responsibility for managing the land to the nobles
 In exchange, the nobles pledged to be loyal to the king
and to fight for him in times of war
 The nobles further divided the land into smaller areas
among vassals
 In turn, the vassals owed the noblemen loyalty and
military service

For the system to work, it depended on a series
of agreements or contracts
 There had to be contracts between the monarch and
nobles and between the nobles and vassals
 Each contract included rights and responsibilities that
the different groups owed to each other

Therefore, feudalism introduced the idea of
government based on a contract
 Those in power pledged to respect the rights of the
people who gave them loyalty

Turn to a partner and in 2 minutes discuss the
following question:

How did feudalism spread to England?

William the Conqueror invaded England but
realized that he could not govern all the land
effectively therefore, in return for their
loyalty nobles were given portions of land to
manage.

King John I faced numerous
problems
 He faced challenges to his throne,
lost England’s empire in France,
argued with the Pope, and taxed
his nobles excessively

As a consequence he was
forced to sign the Magna
Carta in 1215 A.D.

Remember, the Magna Carta
limited the powers of the
monarch and forced him to
recognize the rights of the
nobles

Among these rights are the following ideas:
1. Habeas Corpus - Accused persons cannot be held in
jail without the consent of a court
2. Rule of Law - The king’s powers are limited and
clearly defined. The king must obey the law
3. Due Process - Individuals shall not be deprived of
life, liberty or property without advance warning or
the opportunity to defend themselves

Later on, in 1295 A.D., Edward I established the Model
Parliament

Initially, Parliament reinforced royal authority since it was
designed to advise the king but over the next few centuries
the role of Parliament grew

By 1296 A.D., nobles began to air their grievances with the
king
 Members of Parliament were no longer simply advising the king
but were instead representing the interests of their regions

For hundreds of years after the creation of Parliament,
royalty, nobility, and ordinary people, struggled for power
 No one group was able to gain complete control

Parliament consisted of two chambers; a lower chamber
(The House of Commons) and an upper chamber (The House
of Lords)

Between 1754 and 1790 the House of Commons consisted of
558 members elected by 314 constituencies
 245 English constituencies (40 counties, 203 boroughs, 2
universities) returned 489 Members
 24 Welsh constituencies and 45 Scottish constituencies returned
one Member each.

Those who owned property worth £2 or more were eligible
to vote
 Roughly, only 10% of the population of Great Britain was eligible
to vote in the mid-1700s
Edward I receiving advice from his nobles.

Turn to a partner and in 2 minutes discuss the
following question:

What rights did Magna Carta guarantee?

Accused persons cannot be held in jail
without the consent of a court, the king must
obey the law, and individuals could not have
their property seized without advance
warning.

In 1628 A.D., Charles I tried to
raise money from “his subjects”
without the consent of
Parliament

As a result, Parliament forced
him to agree to the Petition of
Right which stated that the king
could only raise taxes through
the consent of Parliament

The Petition of Right
strengthened the idea that
English subjects had certain
rights that government could
not violate
Charles I, King of England, at the Hunt by
Anthony van Dyck

In 1629 A.D., Charles dissolved
Parliament stating that he
would rule without its backing

As a consequence, a series of
Civil Wars were fought between
those who supported the king
and those who supported
Parliament

Eventually, Parliament secured
victory in the English Civil Wars,
executed Charles I, and ruled
England from 1649 before
restoring the monarchy in 1660
A.D.
Contemporary image depicting execution of
Charles I

Turn to a partner and in 2 minutes discuss the
following question:

How did the Petition of Right limit the powers
of the monarch?

It stated that the king had to secure approval
from Parliament before raising taxes.

By 1688 A.D. Parliament and the
monarchy were quarrelling once more
 King James I, a Catholic, had been trying
to pack his next Parliament with officials
who would overturn anti-Catholic laws
 He dismissed Parliament in 1685, which
angered their Protestant leaders

They offered the throne to James’s
Protestant daughter, Mary, and her
husband, William of Orange who was the
ruler of the Netherlands
 Having little support from the people,
James fled the country at the end of 1688
James I of England by Daniel Mytens

Parliament named William and Mary
the new monarchs of England.
 This change in leadership was
called England’s Glorious
Revolution.

After accepting the throne, William
and Mary agreed in 1689 to uphold
the English Bill of Rights.
 This was an agreement to respect
the rights of English citizens and of
Parliament.
William and Mary from the Painted Hall
at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich; London

Furthermore the agreement stated:





that free elections to be held regularly
frequent meetings of Parliament must be held
excessive fines and cruel punishments were forbidden
people had the right to complain to the king or queen
in Parliament without being arrested.
The English Bill of Rights built upon the Magna
Carta and established an important principle:
 government was to be based on laws made by
Parliament, not on the desires of a ruler.

By the end of the 1600s, British
government was more
regulated and the rights and
responsibilities of both the king
and Parliament were clearly
defined and limited

This was at the same time that
Britain was establishing
colonies in North America

The colonists brought these
ideas about government with
them to the New World and
expected certain rights that
came from living under an
British government

Turn to a partner and in 2 minutes discuss the
following question:

What was the English Bill of Rights?

A list of freedoms that the government
promised to protect.

To establish a colony, one generally needed to have a charter
from the king

A charter was a legal document which granted land to a person
or company along with the right to start a colony on that land

Most charters said little about what kind of government a
colony should have

As a result, the settlers were relatively free to develop their
own form of government

Each of Britain’s thirteen colonies had a government of their
own

In creating their own governments, the
colonists tried to do two things:
 First, they tried to protect themselves from abuse
of power by the British government
 Second, they tried to protect themselves from
abuse of power by their colonial governments

To achieve these goals the colonists used the
basic ideas of constitutional government

Turn to a partner and in 2 minutes discuss the
following question:

In creating their governments what two goals
did the colonists hope to achieve?

To protect themselves from abuse of power
by Parliament and their own colonial
assemblies.

Five key ideas influenced the creation of Colonial
governments:
Colonial governments were based on the idea that the
purpose of government is to protect the people’s natural
rights to life, liberty, and property.
2. The colonists elected representatives to their colonial
legislatures.
3. The people who made and enforced the laws did not have
unlimited power and they, too, had to obey the laws.
4. The colonial governments recognized the idea of higher law
which meant that they could not pass laws that violated the
British constitution.
5. The powers of the colonial governments were divided
among three branches.
1.

1.
All Colonial governments operated using the following basic
structure:
A governor headed the executive branch
 The governor represented the Crown (British) in the colony
 The governor carried out and enforced the law
2.
The legislative branch made the laws
 The Assembly was elected by, and therefore represented, the
citizens of the towns and counties
3.
The judicial branch was made up of judges or magistrates
 Judges were responsible for settling conflicts, presiding over
criminal trials, and ensuring that colonial laws did not violate the
British constitution

1.
By 1775, there were three types or systems of
government used within the colonies:
Royal Colonies were ruled directly by the British
monarchy
 These governments were appointed by the King, and
carried out the orders and wishes of the Crown as
opposed to private or local interests
 By 1775 the Royal Colony system of government was in
the Carolina's, Virginia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New
Hampshire and New York.
2.
In a Proprietary Colony, an individual, or
small elite group, essentially owned the
colony
 They controlling all of the actions and institutions
of government, for which they would receive
political or financial favors
 The governors of the proprietary colonies
reported directly to the king
 By 1775 the Proprietary system of government
was in Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania
3.
Charter Colonies were generally selfgoverned, and their charters were granted
to the colonists via a joint-stock company
 When created, the British king granted these
colonies a charter establishing the rules of
government, but he allowed the colonists a great
amount of freedom within those rules
 The Charter system of government was in Rhode
Island and Connecticut.

In order to rule the colonies from a long distance a
governor was appointed by the monarch

The role of the Governor was to oversee the colony
and was the head of the colonial administration
 He was in charge of laws, taxes and made decisions which




affected the colony
To fulfil his political duties he had the authority to appoint
various government officials
He had the power to convene, or dissolve the legislature
He also had the power to veto any of its laws
He had command of the militia so was able to enforce
government policies

Despite the differences in the types of Colonial Government all of the
colonies had a legislature (law making body) elected by the people

The legislature consisted of two branches:
 The lower house, to which the people elected delegates
 The upper house, or council, that was appointed by the governor

The powers of the legislatures in Colonial Government were limited
and their acts were subject to review:
 They could do nothing contrary to the laws of England
 Their actions and bills could be vetoed by the governors
 All laws passed by a colonial legislature and approved by a governor, had to
be examined by the King who could veto the law at any time within 3 years
(except for CT, RI, and MD who were self-governed Charter Companies)
 To avoid the Royal veto, the legislatures would pass laws to run for just 2
years, and when that time expired would re-enact them for 2 more years

Turn to a partner and in 2 minutes discuss the
following question:

What ideas did the colonists use to create
their governments?

Natural rights, Representative government,
Rule of law, Higher law, and Separation of
powers.

In many ways, the colonies offered settlers
greater political rights than they would have
enjoyed in England.

Around 50 to 70% of white males in the
American colonies could vote
 Women, even those who owned property, could not
vote in any of the colonies
 Native Americans who still lived on land claimed by
the colonists were not permitted to vote
 No Africans, whether free or enslaved, could vote

When the first colonists landed in Jamestown, Virginia in
1607 they brought the English Common Law with them

The term "common law" was the name given to the law
that emerged as "common" throughout the realm of
England and was extended to include the Thirteen
Colonies to be used by Colonial Government

Colonial Government represented an extension of the
English government

The court systems and courts in the colonies enforced the
Common Law of England

For much of the colonial period, Great Britain
paid little attention to the colonies
 Britain had become a world power and was often busy
fighting wars in Europe
 The government in Britain did not have much time to
devote to the colonies
 The colonies were a long distance away and
communication between the colonies and Britain was
slow because news had to travel by ship so orders
from the government to the colonies took months to
arrive

This hands-off policy was called salutary
neglect.

Parliament passed many laws regulating
trade, the use of money, and even
apprenticeships in the colonies
 But governors rarely enforced these laws and the
colonists got used to acting on their own.

In addition, The British government used the policy of
Virtual Representation to justify taxes imposed upon
the colonies which the colonists would have to pay.

Prime Minister George Grenville argued that
Parliament could legally tax the colonists even though
the colonists could not elect any members of
Parliament because Members of Parliament (MPs)
represented not only their specific geographical
constituencies, but also took into consideration the
well being of all British subjects when deliberating on
legislation.

Turn to a partner and in 2 minutes discuss the
following prompt:

Explain what is meant by the term salutary
neglect.

Two key events also helped to increase the idea of
democracy in the colonies

The reign of James I threatened the colonies’ tradition of
self-government
 James I wanted to rule England and its colonies with total
authority

One of his first orders changed the way the Northern
colonies were governed

These colonies, especially Massachusetts, had been
smuggling goods and ignoring the Navigation Acts

When challenged, the people of
Massachusetts had claimed that
England had no right to make laws
for them

King James combined
Massachusetts and the other
Northern colonies into one
Dominion of New England, ruled
by royal governor Edmund Andros

Andros angered the colonists by
ending their representative
assemblies and allowing town
meetings to be held only once a
year

With their assemblies outlawed,
some colonists refused to pay
taxes
 They said that being taxed without
having a voice in government
violated their rights

Andros jailed the loudest
complainers

The colonists sent Increase
Mather to England to plead with
King James
The Rev. Increase Mather
by Joan van der Spriet, 1688

However, the Glorious
Revolution swept James I and
Governor Andros from power

When the people of Boston
heard of King James’s fall, they
jailed Governor Andros and
asked Parliament to restore
their old government

After the Glorious Revolution,
the Massachusetts colonists
regained some selfgovernment

Turn to a partner and in 2 minutes discuss the
following question:

How did James I weaken self-government in
the colonies?

He put the New England colonies under one
royal governor, abolished their assemblies,
and limited town meetings.

While the colonies were largely left to establish and run
their own governments, colonists still expected to enjoy
the traditional rights of English subjects

In 1735, a notable court case helped to establish another
important right: the freedom of the press, or the right of
journalists to publish the truth without restriction or
penalty

John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New-York Weekly
Journal, stood trial for printing criticism of New York’s
governor

The governor had removed a judge and tried to fix an
election

Zenger was charged with libel, or the publishing of
statements that damage a person’s reputation
 At that time, it was illegal to criticize the government in print

Andrew Hamilton defended Zenger at his trial, claiming
that people had the right to speak the truth
 The jury agreed, and Zenger was released

The Zenger case later helped to establish a fundamental
principle – a democracy depends on well-informed
citizens
 Therefore, the press has a right and responsibility to keep the
public informed of the truth
A Brief Narrative of the Cafe and Tryal of John Peter Zenger, by James Alexander, 1 736.

Turn to a partner and in 2 minutes discuss the
following question:

Why was the Zenger trial important?

It established the idea that the press had both
the right and the responsibility to inform the
public of the truth.

You may work with a partner for the duration of
this activity.

List all the democratic and undemocratic
features they can think of in relation to the
Thirteen Colonies.

Most of these characteristics have been
explained during this lesson although there are
some features of colonial life which we have
covered previously that could be included on this
graphic organizer.
Democratic Characteristics











Freedom of the Press
Freedom of religion
Extension of British government
Established to protect natural rights
Delegates voted on issues
Greater suffrage – 50-70% adult white males could vote
Elected legislatures existed in almost all colonies.
Separation of Powers
Salutary Neglect
Virtual Representation
Magna Carta
▪ Rule of Law/Due Process/Habeas Corpus
 English Bill of Rights
▪ Free elections/Regular meetings of Parliament/No excessive fines or cruel
punishments/
Undemocratic Characteristics
 King appointed the governor
 Parliament imposes its will on the colonies
▪ Navigation Acts
▪ Proclamation of 1763
 Governor chooses the upper chamber in the legislature
 Slavery
 Sedition laws
 Must respect higher law
 Ruled by a king
▪ Hereditary power not elected
▪ Colonists had to swear their loyalty to him
 Colonial existence
▪ Colonies were created in order to serve the economic needs and desires of
the homeland (Great Britain)

What is constitutional government?

How did constitutional government develop in England?

List four rights the colonists expected as English
subjects?

What five ideas influenced early colonial governments?

Why did colonists challenge the rule of Edmund Andros?

Why was verdict in the trial of John Peter Zenger
important to the colonists?

This lesson is important today because in creating
their governments the colonists incorporated
democratic ideas from Britain introduced through
centuries of political reform.

Those democratic ideas included limits to the power
of government and individual rights which could not
be violated by the government.

Although the colonies were established to serve the
economic needs of Great Britain, the Colonists
expected to enjoy the same democratic rights and
freedoms as those living in Britain.

In dealing with the Colonies, Parliament failed to
understand that there was a spirit of democracy in the
Colonies that did not exist in Britain.

The colonists had come for many reasons, not the least of
which was to get away from England.

Whether their goal was economic opportunity or religious
freedom it was a goal that required a certain amount of
independence from the King.

Lastly, as you will see in the next lesson, when they felt
that their rights had been violated the Colonists were
quick to protest and acted accordingly to ensure
restitution.