Jamestown
King James I, in 1606, granted charter to a jointstock company headed by Richard Hakluyt. The
Virginia Company of London, as it was known,
divided the British claims in North America with
a rival company, the Virginia Company of
Plymouth. The London Company was made up of
merchants and gentry from the west of England
and from London, itself.
On December 20, 1606, three ships left London
with 144 passengers, under the command of
Captain Christopher Newport. The ships briefly
laid over at the Canary Islands and the Bahamas,
before arriving in Virginia at Chesapeake Bay on
April 26th with 104 survivors. Following the
orders of the London Company, and after facing a
brief conflict with the local Indians, the
Powhatan, the ships landed up the newly-named
James River and encamped at what became
Jamestown on May 13, 1607.
After much turmoil and the near elimination of the colony, by the late 1610s the colony
was on fairly solid footing. Under new Governor Edwin Sandys, the London Company
created a new policy for land distribution and to entice more settlers. The headright
system promised that every new company shareholder who settled in Virginia would get
50 acres of land for himself and 50 acres for each “family member” he brought over,
including servants. Further to entice settlement, the company a new constitution for the
colony, granting settlers the “Rights of Englishmen.”
In July 1619, Virginia created the House of Burgesses, the first legislative assembly in
America. Its twenty-two members represented their local settlements and governed
along with a Governor and executive council.
Two other events in 1619 further expanded the colony: (1) more women arrived as the
company sponsored the sale of women for wives – 90 women were bought for the
princely sum of 125 pounds of tobacco – creating a better gender balance in the colony;
(2) the first Africans arrived – they came on a Dutch trade ship, but were indentured
servants, not slaves.
An indenture is a contract. So, in return for the master’s paying their passage to the New
World, an indentured servant contracts to work for a specific term, usually seven years.
During that time the servant has no rights to property. Upon completion of the term, the
servant is free to do whatever he or she wishes and under Virginia law would receive a
headright of 50 acres.
New England Colonies: Plymouth
In 1541, John Calvin created his church in
Geneva, Switzerland. Calvin attracted “religious
dissenters” from all over Western Europe,
including John Knox who took Calvinism to
Scotland creating the Presbyterian Church.
Several Englishmen also went to Geneva, learned
Calvin’s ideas, and brought them back to
England. In 1564, they coin the term “Puritan,”
meaning a person who wishes to purify the
Church of England of its Catholic rituals.
Specifically, they wished to reform the church
organization and refocus church doctrine away
from “works” and toward the belief that
salvation comes by God’s grace alone.
Organizationally, they wanted the church
organized from the bottom up. They wanted the
congregation to be the primary force in decisions
for the church. For this reason, in America the
descendant of Puritanism is called
Congregationalism.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, Puritans were not
totally free to worship as they chose, but neither were
they persecuted. King James I was less hospitable,
however, and the Puritans split into two groups: the
Puritans (who wanted to stay in England and work
within the system to reform it) and the Separatists
(who said enough is enough, England is lost beyond
redemption; let’s find somewhere else to live). So they
left the town of Scrooby in England and moved to the
town of Leyden in the Netherlands in 1609. After years
in Holland, the Scrooby Separatists feared the moral
decay of their community amid the permissive Dutch
culture. In 1619, they contracted with the London
Company to settle in Virginia and the crown ensured
that they could practice their religion freely there.
With financial help from a group of merchant
adventurers, they set up their voyage.
St. Wilfrid's Church in Scrooby
In July 1620, 35 of the 238 members of the Leyden
congregation, led by William Bradford, sailed to
Southampton to meet more Separatists and the 180ton Mayflower. After two false starts, including a
forced docking at Plymouth, the 102 saints and
strangers set sail for Virginia. The Separatists called
themselves the Saints – as in visible saints, those
elected to heaven; the others, a majority of the
passengers, they called strangers and included
Anglicans and at least one Roman Catholic. Two
months later, 103 landed along Cape Cod – two
babies were born and one youth died en route –
some five hundred miles off course. Since they could
not be governed under the London Company’s
charter, being so far north, the men aboard agreed to
write up a new contract for the settlement. Called the
Mayflower Compact, it represented the first example
of self-government in the New World. The settlers
agreed to create a system of laws, to elect leaders,
and to obey those laws and leaders.
“The Mayflower Compact”:
IN THE name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our
dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland
king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of
the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in
the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of
God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic,
for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue
hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts,
constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for
the general good of the colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the 11 of
November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France,
and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domine 1620.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
1n 1623, with Plymouth established and growing, a group of settlers traveled north to
Cape Ann looking for fishing grounds and establishing the settlement of Gloucester.
Within three years, a number of fishing villages dotted Cape Ann. In 1628, in search of
more capital for better equipment and to generate more settlement, the sponsors of
these settlements formed a joint-stock company, the Massachusetts Bay Company. They
petitioned the king for a charter to lands between the southernmost point of the Charles
River and the Merrimac River. The charter granted the “freemen” of the company the
right to select all officers, admit newcomers to freemanship, to make laws and
administer those laws through a general court.
The company’s primary goal was profit and economic opportunity, but conditions for
the Puritans in England had deteriorated under Charles I, James I brother and an ardent
Catholic. He had run into conflict with the Presbyterians in his native Scotland and he
had no intention of tolerating the English Calvinists.
During the 1630s, some 80,000 people left England for the New World. It was known as
the Great Migration. Of those, about 20,000 came to Massachusetts Bay.
In 1629, a group of well-placed and wealthy Puritan landholders pledged to go to the New
World with their families and their fortunes. Although partly a business venture, the
colony would be, as John Winthrop called it, a “Wilderness Zion,” a place of religious
refuge for persecuted Puritans.
In March 1630, led by Governor Winthrop, 400
Puritans left for the New World. They landed at
Salem, June 12, 1630. 600 more Puritan settlers
soon followed, ultimately to create a new
community at the mouth of the Charles River to
establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While
aboard the Arbella, Winthrop set out his plan for
the colony in a sermon, titled “A Model of
Christian Charity” based on the line from the
Gospel of Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the
world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.”
“A Model of Christian Charity”
Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck and to provide for our posterity is to follow the counsel of Micah, to
do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God, for this end, we must be knit together in this work as
one man, we must entertain each other in brotherly affection, we must be willing to abridge ourselves of our
superfluities, for the supply of others necessities, we must uphold a familiar commerce together in all
meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality, we must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own:
rejoice together, mourn together, labor, and suffer together; always having before our eyes our commission
and community in the work, our community as members of the same body, so shall we keep the unity of the
spirit in the bond of peace, the Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among us, as his own people and will
command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of his wisdom, power, goodness,
and truth than formerly we have been acquainted with, we shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when
ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies, when he shall make us a praise and glory, that men
shall say of succeeding plantations: the lord make it like that of New England. For we must consider that we
shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our god in
this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a
story and a byword through the world, we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of god
and all professors for God’s sake; we shall shame the faces of many of gods worthy servants, and cause their
prayers to be turned into curses upon us until we be consumed out of the good land whether we are going:
And to shut up this discourse with that exhortation of Moses that faithful servant of the Lord in his last
farewell to Israel (Deut. 30).
Beloved there is now set before us life, and good, death and evil in that we are commanded this day to love the
Lord our God, and to love one another to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his ordinance,
and his laws, and the articles of our covenant with him that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our
God may bless us in the land whether we go to possess it: But if our hearts shall turn away so that we will not
obey, but shall be seduced and worship other Gods, our pleasures, and profits, and serve them, it is propounded
unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whether we pass over this vast sea to possess it; . . .
Therefore let us choose life, that we, and our seed, may live; by obeying his voice, and cleaving to him, for he is
our life, and our prosperity.
Q1. What does Winthrop mean by the term “City upon a Hill”?
Q2. According to Winthrop, how can this city be achieved and what will prove its achievement?
Q3. Does the Massachusetts Bay Colony live up to the Puritans’ expectations of such a city?
Q4. Explain: “abridge ourselves of our superfluities,” “succeeding plantations,” “covenant”.
Administration of Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay charter was a commercial agreement among stockholders, but
once it was taken to New England it became a constitutional blueprint for the Puritan
colonies. The administration of the colonies was to be built around the “freemen,” or
company shareholders residing in the colony. The freemen were to meet four times a year
in a “great and generall Court,” to make laws necessary to govern the colony. Freemen
also were to elect administrative officials who would run the day-to-day business of the
colony. The administration would consist of “one Governor, one Deputy Governor, and
eighteene Assistants of the same company.” The administrators would meet monthly.
The problem with the charter was that government power was concentrated in the hands
of too few men. The General Court included only the “freemen.” Only shareholders in
the company could be included among the legislators. In 1631, a conflict grew out of this
issue when some recently arrived male settlers wanted to sit in the General Court. In
order to avoid a major fracas, Governor Winthrop agreed to expand the definition of
“freeman.” All church-members were allowed the right to vote and sit in the General
Council. While this provided an increased franchise and participation, it is important to
note that church membership was restricted to men only and based on proof of one’s
election--that is, being among those whom God has predestined as being saved.
Winthrop believed it would be best for the new colony if he consolidated control of the
administration around him. To get away with this, he hid the charter from the citizens.
In 1632, a crisis flared up when Winthrop levied a tax on the citizens of Watertown.
They raised a stink because they had not had a say in the levying of the tax. To appease
the Watertown Protestors, Winthrop decided to reform the charter (actually to restore it
to its original intent) and allow “freemen” to vote for the governor and deputy governor,
as well as the Assistants. This settled the matter for two years, but when no compromise
on taxation could be worked out, colonists demanded to see the charter. In it, they saw
that it was the General Court, the “freemen” not the governor alone, who had the power
to tax. Winthrop responded, claiming that the population had grown too large for all to
participate in governing it. But when the General Court met it rejected Winthrop’s claim
and created a representative government, with two or three deputies representing each
town, depending on its size. It also voted out Winthrop as Governor. But within three
years, he was re-elected.
The last stage in the development of Massachusetts Bay’s government came in 1644,
when the General Court split into a House of Assistants (like the House of Lords) and
House of Deputies (like the House of Commons). The bicameral assembly was the first
of its kind in America. All laws required support from a majority of delegates in both
houses before enacted.
New Netherland
In 1609, the Dutch East India Company had hired Henry Hudson to discover the
“Northwest Passage.” Hudson sailed the coast of North America and located the river
that now bears his name. He sailed as far up-river as he could but was stopped by
rapids at what is now Albany, New York. Not able to go farther, he met with the local
Mohican Indians and negotiated a contract for the Mohicans to provide furs to the
Dutch. They sealed the deal with a few kegs of brandy.
In 1614, the Dutch established trading posts on
Manhattan Island at the mouth of the river and Fort
Orange at a site below the rapids. Ten years later,
the Dutch West India Co. established a settlement at
what is now Governor’s Island.
In 1626, Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Island
from the Indians and moved the settlement there,
calling it New Amsterdam. The colony spread west
to the Delaware, east to the Connecticut River, and
north to the Mohawk River but remained only
thinly populated because its focus was on furs.
The company did encourage settlement. It
established the patroon system, modeled after the
European manorial and the French seigneurial
systems. A stockholder governed a patroonship, a
large estate on the Hudson River, if he peopled it
with 50 adults within four years, and established
herds, barns, mills, and any other necessities for
farming. The tenants would treat him as “lord of
the manor,” paying him rent, using his mill, and
submitting to his authority.
The patroon system did little to entice settlers,
however, because too much open land was
available and few Dutchmen wanted to volunteer
for serfdom.
The English Civil War raged for most of the decade of the
1640s and Puritans took control of the English government
in 1646. In 1649, they executed the king. The beheading
ushered in eleven years of Commonwealth. In 1660, the
Commonwealth collapsed and the people restored the
Stuarts to the thrown.
The Restoration of the crown in England, in the person of
Charles II, led to the official recognition of Rhode Island and
Connecticut. It also led to new expansion into the new world.
The Dutch expanded their territories while the British were
engaged in Civil War. The British Crown fretted over the
Dutch presence dividing the English colonies. Charles II
decided to push the Dutch out.
The rivalry resulted in war in 1664 when an English expedition reached New Amsterdam.
Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant vowed that the Dutch would fight. But without the
supplies, weapons, or the will to withstand the English, the Dutch surrendered without a
shot being fired. King Charles granted the lands to his brother James, the Duke of York
and the colony became New York. Some of the Dutch returned to Holland, but most of
them stayed.
With so many non-English in the colony, representative government was slow to evolve.
Still, inhabitants were given certain guarantees: (1) local property holders could elect a
constable and eight overseers to supervise town government; (2) the towns would be
placed under justices of the peace named by the governor; (3) these justices aid the
governor in making laws; and (4) because of the diverse polity--made up of Frenchmen,
Swedes and Finns, as well as Dutch and English--there was complete religious toleration.
In 1682, a legislature was established and wrote the Charter of Liberties and Privileges,
guaranteeing colonists the “Rights of Englishmen.” But, in 1685, when James became
King James II he turned New York into a royal colony, the charter was denied and the
legislature dissolved.
Because the bulk of the population was comprised of newcomers, the social structure
of the English colonies, at first glance, looked like that of the mother country. The
social hierarchy that symbolized the class system in England was transplanted with
the settlers, as “lesser” almost always deferred to the “betters.” A free-holder always
deferred to a planter and a servant deferred to a free-holder.
One fundamental difference did exist, however. The colonies were characterized by
social mobility rather than a fixed class system. Many of the first landowners of
Virginia had died or returned to England. The next wave of settlers was comprised of
men of lesser means, having only one or two servants or no servants at all. They
succeeded or failed by their own labors.
The turmoil evinced by Bacon’s Rebellion or the others of which we will speak
resulted from the fact that those who had made their own success refused to be
governed by cliques or entrenched elites.
Political-Economy after the Restoration
One of the first acts of King Charles II upon the Stuart Restoration was to punish those
responsible for his father’s beheading. With their own necks on the line, two of the late
king’s judges fled to New England. Charles II ordered their arrest and return, but
colonial officials enabled them to escape to the wilderness of Connecticut. Irate at the
colonials, Charles II began to take steps that would fundamentally alter the relationship
between Britain and New England, and Massachusetts in particular. He ordered that the
colonials take a new oath of allegiance to him, that the crown review all laws and legal
proceedings of the Massachusetts General Court, and that members of the Church of
England have free and equal rights of worship, as well as political rights in the colony.
The leaders of the Massachusetts colony ignored the King’s demand and delayed its
implementation. The colony won a reprieve as the King’s attention was diverted by a
war with the Dutch and by the rebuilding after the Great Fire of London in 1666. But
Massachusetts could not avoid the King’s authority forever.
With complete political control over the colonies out of its reach, the crown focused on
controlling the colonial economy. The last half of the seventeenth century witnessed
significant expansion of the colonial economy.
Britons saw the economic value of creating colonies. By the mid-seventeenth century, the
idea had developed into a full-fledged economic theorem, called mercantilism.
Wealth = power

Gain wealth through trade/commerce

Improve “balance of trade”

Increase exports and decrease imports

Create colonies

Control the colonial economy

Navigation Acts
The English believed that the colonies should provide England with raw resources--furs,
lumber, and fish--as well as a market for English manufactured goods.
Beginning in 1651, Parliament passed laws to ensure this symbiotic relationship between
the colonies and the mother country, implementing a regulatory system under the
Navigation Acts of 1651. Charles II, upon restoration in 1660, expanded the Navigation
Acts. In 1704, 1705, 1721, and 1729, Parliament modified the list bringing more goods under
its control.
The crown also established a new bureaucracy to implement the policy. It created the
Lords of Trade and Plantations in 1675. The committee was ineffective, for the most part,
because of understaffing and distance. Colonials frequently flouted the laws, smuggling
goods from the West Indian holdings of Spain and France. Then it was overwhelmed by
the tensions that led to the Glorious Revolution. But it did establish a framework for
British control that would follow during the reign of King William.
Between 1675 and 1689, a power struggle developed between the colonies and mother
country, as well as between the powerful and powerless within the colonies. Five
rebellions occurred, involving each of the four colonial regions. Each of the rebellions
had causes particular to their colony, but they also reflected a struggle to answer the
question: “Who’s in charge.”
A similar tension reigned in Britain. James II, an avowed
Catholic, began to exploit royal prerogatives to enhance
Catholic influence in government. The king’s excesses
caused England’s latent political factions to develop into
the more clearly defined Court Party (King’s Court; a.k.a
Tories) and Country Party (Parliament; a.k.a. Whigs).
The Whigs, fearing absolute monarchy, rebelled. Within
six weeks, James fled to France and the bloodless
Glorious Revolution of 1688 ended.
The Glorious Revolution occurred as Europe, and particularly Britain, was experiencing an
important change in world-view. Known as the “English Enlightenment,” it reflected the
advance of the scientific revolution that had been ongoing for more than a century.
The scientific revolution bred new approaches to
other elements of life, including politics. The most
important political thinker of the English
Enlightenment is John Locke (1632-1704). The eldest
son of a respectable Somersetshire Puritan family,
Locke’s formative years were surrounded by religious
and political tension. He was strongly influenced by
the events of the English Civil War and Interregnum.
Freedom of thought and to a lesser degree action
became the foundation on which he built his
philosophy. Two works by Locke stand out: An Essay
Concerning Human Understanding (1690); and Two
Treatises of Government (1690).
First, and paramount, in Locke’s view of political society is the idea that mankind at the
beginning of time were free and endowed with certain natural rights: life, liberty, and
property. It was in a complete state of nature, free from obligation, free to do whatever
they chose to do.
While this state of nature had its advantages, it was not satisfactory for the maintenance
of a sustained existence. Nature is dangerous because the strong can devour the weak.
One’s life, liberty, or property were constantly at risk. Locke’s predecessor, Thomas
Hobbes, described life in a state of nature as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
To survive, men joined together in the spirit of community to protect their rights. They
left a state of nature and created government. Man kept his freedoms--the right freely to
pursue property, the right to mobility, and the right to life. But his freedoms were not
absolute. By joining society, man had to conform to the will of that society’s laws. This
is, in a sense, a contract between individual man and society: a social contract.
To this point, Locke is not radically different from his predecessor Hobbes. Where the
two part company is over what happens if the contract is broken not by man, but by
government. Locke’s answer is that in such times man has a right to revolt against the
government. The revolution is a conservative one, however: to restore the community to
the original terms of the contract.
Locke’s writing is a justification of the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
King William’s War, (1689-1697): A tie, the French take English territories of
Newfoundland and Hudson Bay, and England gets Gibraltar at the entrance of the
Mediterranean Sea.
Queen Anne’s War, (1701-13): Colonists from Charleston destroy St. Augustine.
New Englanders attack Quebec, but fail to take it. England regains Hudson Bay, Acadia,
and Newfoundland.
King George’s War, (1744-48): As a world war, it is a tie. In North America,
England took a major French fort, Louisburg, showing her naval dominance and paving
the way for an assault on Quebec.
The wars with France left the British government deep in debt. The debt and an economic
collapse forced Prime Minister Robert Walpole to find ways to cut spending. In 1723, he
created the policy called Salutary Neglect. It relaxed enforcement of the Navigation Acts and
allowed the colonial economy to run along essentially unregulated. During the brief time of
unsupervised growth, the colonies experienced a Great Awakening and the Enlightenment.
In 1754, with the colonies on the brink of war, Ben Franklin devised the Albany Plan of
Union to enable the colonies to protect themselves. Delegates met in Albany, New York, to
form an alliance with the Iroquois against the French and their Huron allies; and
potentially to create a governing council for all the colonies. It was not an independence
movement; it intended only to bring the colonies closer together. Some colonies thought it
was a good idea, but a majority did not want to give up any power over their own affairs to
another layer of government.
Salutary Neglect ended with the French and Indian War (1754-1763) when, Britain started
controlling the colonies by imposing new economic regulations, taxes, and restrictions on
movement. When it was so abruptly ended, it caused a groundswell of opposition that
would eventually grow into an American Independence movement.
The land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi posed an opportunity and a
problem for Britain. Colonials wanted to flood the territory, but each new incursion
resulted in conflict with the Indians. So King George III banned colonists from entering
the region. The Proclamation of 1763 banned all settlement west of the continental divide
in the Appalachians.
A series of new taxes and enforcement procedures further demonstrated that the British
were going to change the rules on the colonies and further alienated colonists: Sugar Act,
1764; (a.k.a. Revenue Act); Currency Act, 1764; and the Stamp Act, 1765– which imposed a
direct tax on printed matter and documents.
Many colonial leaders, hit hard by the tax, sought a way to
challenge Parliament’s authority. They latched on to political
theories offered by British Whigs, in the tradition of John
Locke. Among the most important opponents of the tax was
James Otis. By no means a radical, nor wanting colonial
independence, Otis had developed an argument against the
taxes in 1764, in The Rights of the British Colonists Asserted
and Proved.
“The colonists will have an equitable right . . . to be
represented in Parliament, or to have some new
subordinate legislature among themselves. It would be
best if they had both. . . . Besides the equity of an
American representation in Parliament, a thousand
advantages would result. . . . It would be the most effectual
means of giving those of both countries a thorough
knowledge of each others interests.” James Otis
The key issue for the colonists was representation and governing with the consent of the
people. Otis offered an argument in favor of “direct representation.” Delegates from each
community would meet in an assembly, acting a agents for their constituents; they would
debate, wheel-and-deal, and compromise their way to a policy satisfactory to a majority.
Britain responded, arguing a concept called “virtual representation.” As Britain progressed
into a more modern nation-state, regional differences diminished and were replaced by
general or national interests. Thus, representation in Parliament gradually changed from
local to national. Members of the House of Commons represented the interests not just of
their particular constituents, but of all of the “commons.” The House of Lords, represented
the interests of the gentry.
Several issues made virtual representation inadequate in the colonies: (1) a more fluid
social organization than Britain; (2) a more diverse population than Britain; and (3) the
fundamentally different interests involved in governing a frontier settlement from
governing Britain.
Of course sheer distant made direct representation inadequate, as well.
“It is inseparably essential to the freedom of the people, and the undoubted rights of
Englishmen, that no taxes should be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given
personally, or by their representatives.” Patrick Henry
In May 1765, Virginia led the attack on the Stamp
Act. In the House of Burgesses, Patrick Henry
pushed five resolutions through despite catcalls of
“treason” by his opponents. The most significant
were that colonials enjoyed all the “Rights of
Englishmen” and that Virginians were exempt from
any tax that did not derive from their own assembly.
In June 1765, Massachusetts sent invitations to each
of the colonial assemblies to meet in New York to
discuss a unified colonial response to the Stamp Act.
Nine colonial delegations met in the Stamp Act Congress in New York, beginning on
October 7th. Georgia and New Hampshire could not afford to send delegates; Virginia
and North Carolina did not send delegates because their assemblies were out of session.
The Congress deliberated for three weeks and issued the “Declaration of Rights and
Grievances and a petition to King George III for relief.
That the inhabitants of the English Colonies in North America, by the immutable laws of nature, the
principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts, have the following Rights:
1. That they are entitled to life, liberty, and property.
2. That [those] who first settled these colonies, were . . . entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of
free and natural born subjects within the realm of England.
3. That by such emigration they by no means forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights.
*
*
*
5. That the respective colonies are entitled to the common law of England, and to the great and inestimable
privilege of being tried by their peers.
6. That they are entitled to the benefit of such of the English statutes [that] they have, by experience,
respectively found to be applicable to their several local and other circumstances.
7. That these, his majesty's colonies, are likewise entitled to all the immunities and privileges granted and
confirmed to them by royal charters, or secured by their several codes of provincial laws.
8. That they have a right peaceably to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the King.
9. That the keeping a Standing army in these colonies, in times of peace, without the consent of the
legislature of that colony in which such army is kept, is against law.
10. It is indispensably necessary to good government . . . that the constituent branches of the legislature be
independent of each other; that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power in several colonies, by a council
appointed . . . by the crown is unconstitutional. . . and destructive to the freedom of American legislation.
The key point, beyond basic legal rights, in the Declaration is Part 4. wherein the Congress
discusses representation.
4. That the foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in
their legislative council: and as the English colonists are not represented, and from their local and other
circumstances, cannot properly be represented in the British parliament, they are entitled to a free and
exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures, where their right of representation can
alone be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only to the negative of their sovereign,
in such manner as has been heretofore used and accustomed. But, from the necessity of the case, and a
regard to the mutual interest of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the operation of such acts of the
British parliament, as are bona fide restrained to the regulation of our external commerce, for the purpose of
securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial benefits
of its respective members excluding every idea of taxation, internal or external, for raising a revenue on the
subjects in America without their consent.
The Declaration warned of the actions colonies intended to take to make Parliament back
down to “restore us to that state in which both countries found happiness and prosperity, we
have for the present only resolved to pursue the following peaceable measures:
1. To enter into a non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement or
association.
2. To prepare an address to the people of Great Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of
British America, and
3. To prepare a loyal address to his Majesty, agreeable to resolutions already entered into.”
“Parliament has a right to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever.” Declaratory Act, 1766
The actions of the colonists (especially the boycotts), lobbying by Franklin in Parliament,
and support from Whigs in Parliament (notably Edmund Burke) finally combined to force
Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act..
The repeal obviously was a victory for the colonists, but Parliament moved quickly to
reassert its authority. Parliament passed the Declaratory Act, which asserted Parliament’s
right to enact taxes and any other laws on the colonies. A year later, Parliament enacted a
new tax: The Revenue Act of 1767, better known as the Townshend Duties, placing tariffs
on glass, lead, paper, paint, and tea. The law also set up a Board of Customs in Boston to
collect the tax; and it recognized the vice-admiralty courts as having jurisdiction over the
law—this removed suits involving the tariff from colonial courts and colonial juries.
Additionally, Townshend suspended all laws enacted by the New York Assembly until
New Yorkers began obeying the Quartering Act of 1765. That law required colonials to
provide provisions and housing to British troops stationed there. It hit New York hardest
because New York was the headquarters of the British force in the colonies.
The new taxes caused opponents of the laws
to split over tactics. The moderate view was
represented by John Dickinson in his Letters
of a Pennsylvania Farmer. Dickinson was a
wealthy planter and a true patriot of the
colonies, but he feared British power and did
not want to make matters worse by resorting
to mobism. He repeated the arguments of the
Declaration of Rights in a clearer and more
plain-spoken manner. But he stopped short of
advocating violence. “The cause of Liberty,”
he exclaimed, “is a cause of too much dignity
to be sullied by turbulence and tumult.”
Outraged by the new taxes, many colonials again called for boycotts. Among the most
aggressive were the Sons of Liberty in Massachusetts, led by Samuel Adams.
A young Harvard graduate, Adams inherited his
family’s brewery and soon ran it into the ground.
Described as the “Puritan type . . . poor but
incorruptible,” he found his calling in rebel rousing.
In 1768, in the Massachusetts Assembly, Adams and
James Otis wrote the Massachusetts Circular Letter
(open letter) attacking Parliament’s taxing and
calling on other colonies to join Massachusetts in
opposition. The letter drew the attention of the
Colonial Secretary and made Adams and Otis
marked men. Otis would be beaten by a crowd of
British loyalists and Adams would eventually be
charged with treason. Meanwhile, Francis Bernard,
Royal Governor of Massachusetts dissolved the
assembly. But soon the answers to the letter started
arriving: the colonies supported Massachusetts.
The Boston Tea Party
On December 16th, 1773, the issue came to a head. Three ships carrying a new cargo of
tea were to land at Griffin’s Wharf. That night, Adams’ Sons of Liberty met at the South
Meeting House to organize their protest. Some dressed up as Mohawk Indians, others as
women, and they sneaked through the dark down Congress Street to the wharf. They
boarded the ships and tossed 45 tons of tea, valued at £10,000 into the harbor. The tea
washed up on the shores of Boston Harbor for weeks afterward.
The British response was quick and severe. In March, Parliament enacted a series of laws,
known collectively as the Coercive Acts because they meant to coerce better behavior
from Massachusetts, or as the Intolerable Acts because the colonials found they could not
tolerate them.
1. Boston Port Act: closed the port of Boston to all traffic and trade.
2. Act for the Impartial Administration of Justice: moved all trials to Admiralty
Courts in Halifax.
3. Massachusetts Government Act: the Royal Governor appoints the colonial council
and law enforcement officers.
4. Quartering Act of 1774, which expanded the requirement to provide room and
board for British soldiers, including in private homes, if necessary.
The Intolerable Acts began a tumbling snowball that within two years led to American
independence.
On September 5, 1774, delegates from each of the Thirteen Colonies, except Georgia, met a
Carpenter Hall in the First Continental Congress. Canadian and West Indian delegations
were invited, but did not attend. Among the delegates were John and Samuel Adams,
Patrick Henry, George Washington, John Dickinson, as well as Edmund Rutledge of South
Carolina, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and John Jay of New York.
The Congress debated, but rejected a plan that would have created the Continental
Association, similar to Franklin’s Plan of Union. It approved an embargo on all British
goods. And it accepted an idea from Thomas Jefferson’s Summary View of the Rights of
British America that only the King, not Parliament, had power to govern the colonies.
Known as the Dominion Theory, it intended to take Parliament out of the mix and plead
its case directly to the crown. It was a potentially dangerous argument, because if the king
backed Parliament, then the colonies would have little room for further maneuvering.
The Congress adjourned in October with orders to meet again in May 1775.
Battle of Lexington and Concord
Old North Bridge
Lexington Green
The Road Back
Colonials were split in their response to Lexington and Concord. Patriots organized militia,
while loyalists asked for a cessation of conflict. Quaker Pennsylvania divided between
pacifists and fighters, while the rest of the colony divided into patriots, led by Franklin,
and loyalists, led by John Dickinson. In the Chesapeake, Maryland opposed revolution,
while Virginia (and especially Patrick Henry) supported it. A month before Lexington,
Henry urged the House of Burgesses to organize a militia, giving his oft-quoted speech, “Is
life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid
it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or
give me death!”
Loyalism was stronger in the Lower South, particularly in the back-country among the
Scots-Irish who distrusted the Low Country planters. But a strong patriot contingent also
existed in the Carolinas, as well as Georgia. On May 20th, Mecklenburg County issued
four resolutions and declared its independence: “We do hereby declare ourselves a free
and independent people; are, and of right ought to be a sovereign and self-governing
association, under the control of no power, other than that of our God and . . . Congress: To
the maintenance of which Independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual cooperation, our Lives, our Fortunes, and our most Sacred Honor.”
“There is something charming to me in the conduct of Washington: a gentleman of one of
the first fortunes upon the continent, leaving his delicious retirement, his family and
friends, sacrificing his ease and hazarding all in the cause of his country.” John Adams
Second Continental Congress: Meeting, beginning
in May 1775, after Lexington and Concord, it was
the first that included delegates from all of the
colonies. The delegates were split. There was
strong sentiment to avoid further conflict, but
preparedness was important. The Congress named
George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of
the proposed Continental Army.
John Adams: Boston lawyer, led Independence Movement at
Second Continental Congress. Although short in stature, he had
a strong mind, a huge ego, and an ability to drive his colleagues
crazy with sheer force of character. He was ambassador to Britain
during the Confederation era, was first Vice-POTUS and second
POTUS.
Thomas Jefferson: Main author of the Declaration
of Independence, inventor, writer, and musician. He
was ambassador to France during the Confederation era,
the first Secretary of State, second Vice-POTUS, and
third POTUS. Fiercely political, he led the DemocraticRepublican Party.
“I HAVE never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath not confessed his
opinion, that a separation between the countries would take place one time or other: And
there is no instance in which we have shown less judgment, than in endeavoring to describe,
what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the continent for independence.” Tom Paine
Common Sense (1776): Pamphlet written by radical English Quaker
Tom Paine and published in Philadelphia in January 1776. It argued
that it made no sense for the colonies to stay part of England. Its fiery
language and clear reasoning helped convince the large segment of
undecided to join the independence movement
Declaration of Independence: Founding document of the U.S. signed on July 4, 1776.
It was written by committee (Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston)
with most of the work done by Jefferson: the document is in four parts:
1. a preamble, offering an introduction as to the purpose of the document
2. explanation of natural rights, based on Locke's “social contract:” life, liberty,
pursuit of happiness
3. presentation of the list of complaints against King George III
4. statement of intent, i.e. the actual declaration that the colonies are sovereign and
independent
The War of Independence raged for nearly seven years until victories at Yorktown and an
alliance with France forced the British to sue for peace. The Peace of Paris (September 1783)
ended the War of Independence. Negotiated by Ben Franklin, John Jay, and Henry Laurens,
it gave the U.S. control of all the land east of the Mississippi River, north of Florida, and
south of British Canada.
Articles of Confederation
With independence, it became necessary for each state to reconstitute its government. Given
their unhappiness with the monarchical experience, the states universally chose a republican
form and a written constitution.
Debates at the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention in 1779-80 offer an eloquent
statement of the goals and beliefs:
“The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals; it is a social compact,
by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each with the whole people that
all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good.”
Each state had an elected governor and a senate, and most wrote bills of rights to provide
basic protections to the people. The rights included: freedom of speech, the right to petition,
trial by jury , and freedom from self-incrimination.
In 1776, John Dickinson drafted a national constitution, called the Articles of Confederation
and Perpetual Union. It was adopted by the Continental Congress in 1777, but ratification by
the states took until 1781. It created a “diplomatic congress of autonomous states.”
Ratification of the
Articles was delayed by
the debate over control
of western lands.
The Confederation government also successfully created government departments to carry
out its most essential duties: Foreign Affairs; War; and Finance, as well as the Post Office.
Foreign Affairs was headed by New Yorkers Robert Livingston and then John Jay, but was
ineffectual. The War Department was headed by Henry Knox; it was lucky we were at peace
because without money for troops we would not have been able to put up much of a fight.
Finance was headed by Robert Morris, the Philadelphia merchant who had almost singlehandedly financed the Revolution. Morris created the Bank of North America, a privatelyowned, part government-financed institution to hold federal deposits (if there were any)
and to facilitate borrowing (which there was a lot of).
An otherwise decentralized banking system, vested local interests, and general distrust of
centralized authority stymied Morris’ attempts to organize the national government’s
economic affairs.
In frustration, Morris and others, including Alexander Hamilton threatened a coup d’etat, if
the states did not give more power to the national government. When Hamilton solicited
George Washington’s support for the coup, however, the Newburgh Conspiracy was ended.
Washington thought the idea too risky and entirely too dishonorable.
Forgive me, Gentlemen, but I have grown blind as well as gray in service of my country
-- Gen. George Washington to the Newburgh Conspirators
Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
Weaknesses
Effect
Congress had no power to levy or
collect taxes
The national government is dependent
upon the states and is always short of
money
Congress had no power to regulate
interstate or foreign trade
Economic quarrels broke out among the
states. It was difficult to arrange a
coherent foreign trade policy
Congress had no power to enforce its
laws
The national government is dependent
upon the states to enforce laws
Approval of nine states was needed to
enact laws
It was difficult to enact laws, especially
given the absence of quorum
Amendments to the Articles required
unanimous vote
Amending the Articles was impossible
given Rhode Island’s non-participation
The national government had no
executive branch
There was no way to coordinate the
work of the government
There was no national judiciary or
court system
The national government had no way of
settling disputes among the states
Given the obvious flaws in the Articles, several leaders from Maryland and Virginia met
at Mount Vernon to discuss how to fix them, as well as to speculate on some potential
business ventures that might bring more development to the nation. They suggested a
convention of the states to meet in Annapolis, Maryland (U.S. capital) at which delegates
would discuss reform. The meeting was held in September 1786, but so few states sent
delegates that no debate occurred. They decided to try again in Philadelphia in the new
year. The failure of the Annapolis Convention further demonstrates the weakness of the
federal government.
Shays’ Rebellion: Over the winter of 178687, farmers in western Massachusetts found
themselves unable to pay their mortgages
because of a poor harvest and a tax increase.
Armed (and usually drunk), the farmers rose up
in protest. Led by Daniel Shays, they took over
courts to block judgments against their farms.
Some began a march on Boston and rumors
abounded that they were on a rampage and
heading to Annapolis to overthrow the
government. The government was thrown into a
panic. The inability of the federal government to
stop the uprising showed the weakness of the
Articles and caused a national emergency.
“Miracle at Philadelphia”: Constitutional Convention of 1787—after years of
ineffective government, the country’s leaders met in Philadelphia to create a new plan of
government. George Washington presided and Benjamin Franklin gave his authority to
the project. Jefferson and Adams were not there. In the summer heat, with the windows
nailed shut and the doors locked because of armed protesters marching outside, the
delegates debated, disagreed, compromised, and drafted the Constitution of the United
States, the oldest written constitution still in use.
Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804): In the Revolution, he
distinguished himself as a brave soldier and was aide-de-camp to
George Washington. A lawyer and formidable mind, he was one
of New York’s delegates at the Philadelphia convention and led
the Federalist faction, calling for a strong central government.
Washington named him first Secretary of the Treasury. His
economic policies helped create a foundation on which a national
economy could grow. An opponent of Jefferson, he helped create
the Federalist Party in the 1790s. He was killed in a duel with
Vice-POTUS Aaron Burr in 1804.
James Madison (1751-1836): A wee man with a weak
constitution, he was one of the most brilliant thinkers of his
age. He is called the “Father of the Constitution”: he led the
Virginia delegation at the convention; kept notes on
convention proceedings; devised the Virginia Plan; and, with
Hamilton, led the Federalist faction. To satisfy foes of the
Constitution, he wrote the Bill of Rights (1791). He joined
Jefferson’s Republican Party in the mid-1790s. He was the
fourth POTUS (1809-1817).
Separation of Powers: Built on Montesquieu’s idea of “divided sovereignty,” this
divides power and authority among three branches of government so that government will
not become too powerful.
Checks and Balances: This system gives each branch of government a check (control)
on the power of the other branches and thereby balances power among the three.
Virginia Plan: Conceived by Madison and offered by Edmund Randolph, it aimed to
overhaul of the Articles and create a stronger central government: a bicameral legislature
with representation based on population; a strong executive and judiciary selected by the
legislature—also known as the “Large States Plan.”
New Jersey Plan: a.k.a. the “Small States Plan,” offered by William Paterson of New
Jersey. It proposed tweaking Articles: keeping the unicameral legislature, but giving the
national government the power to impose and collect taxes and to regulate trade; and
creating a national judiciary. It kept the concepts of the confederation, maintaining the
sovereignty of the individual states.
Connecticut Compromise: offered by Roger Sherman of Connecticut, it split the
difference on the question of how representation would be determined. Following the
Large States Plan, it called for a bicameral legislature with the lower house having
proportional representation (by population), but the upper chamber would have equal
representation (two Senators selected by each state).
WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, in order to form a more
perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for
the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings
of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish the
Constitution for the United States of America