Text 7: government in the colonies

Between 1607 and 1733 the English founded thirteen colonies along the eastern coast of North America. It was from these colonies that the present system of American government evolved. Although they were British subjects, the first American colonists enjoyed a degree of freedom denied to most people in the world.

Each English colony had its own government consisting of a governor, a legislature, and a court system. Nevertheless, the British believed that all colonists owed allegiance to the monarch. For many years the colonists agreed with this philosophy. But later they began feeling that it was difficult to be ruled by a king 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.

Democracy in all the colonies grew rapidly, but it did not yet exist in its current form. Women and enslaved persons could not vote, and every colony had some type of property qualification for voting. Nine of the thirteen colonies had established an official church, and many colonists remained intolerant of religious dissent. In some of the colonies, strict religious observance was expected of citizens. In Virginia, for example, the penalty for breaking the Sabbath for the third time was death. There were also laws which curbed idleness, improper dress and drunkenness.

Despite such shortcomings, the colonial governments established practices that became a key part of the nation's system of government. Chief among these were a written constitution that guaranteed basic liberties and limited the power of government; a legislature of elected representatives; and the separation of powers between the governor (the chief executive) and the legislature. Today the United States government embodies each of these practices.

Text 8: colonial legislatures

The present system of American government evolved from the first thirteen colonies founded along the eastern coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. Representative assemblies became firmly established in the colonies. The Virginia House of Burgesses, the first representative legislature in America, was established in 1619, only 12 years after the settlement of Jamestown. The newly elected lawmakers passed laws aiding farmers and curbing idleness, improper dress, and drunkenness. It was not long before other colonies set up their own legislatures. By the mid-1700s, some colonial legislatures had been operating for more than 100 years. As a result, representative government was an established tradition in America well before the colonists declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776.

The colonial legislatures dominated colonial government. The rapidly growing colonies constantly needed new laws to cope with new circumstances. For example, they had to control the distribution of land and construct public buildings and facilities such as roads, ferries, and wharves. The colonies also had to establish schools and new towns and establish civil and criminal courts.

These legislatures were examples of the consent of the governed because a large number of qualified people voted. Although there were property qualifications for voting, land was abundant and most colonists could afford property.

Colonial charters divided powers of government. The governor, as the agent of the monarch, carried out the monarch's orders. The governor also enforced the laws that the colonial legislature passed. This separation of powers continued under the United States Constitution, which allows Congress to pass laws and gives the President the power to enforce them.