Early Influences

Early InfluencesSection 1Chapter 2

The colonists brought with them ideas on creating government to North America

An English HeritageGreat Britain does not have a written constitution– basic sets of laws and principles establishing the nation’s governmentTwo important ideals influenced the colonists: limited government and representative governmentThis served the colonial government and then the U.S. government

An English HeritageLimited Government

In 1215 nobles in England forced King John to sign the Magna Carta (“Great Charter”)It established rule of law under which government leaders must act according to set laws

No longer levy taxes without nobles approvalGave people right to trial by their peersApplied only to nobles but was later extended to everyone

An English HeritageRepresentative Government

Representative government has its roots in a council or nobles and high religious officials that advised the monarchs (older than the Magna Carta)Over time that advisory council evolved into a bicameral (two chamber) legislature called ParliamentThe lower house is made up of representatives of the peopleParliament helps limit the power the Monarch

An English HeritageRepresentative Government

Parliament forced Charles I to sign the Petition of Right in 1628 which stated that monarchs could not imprison people illegally, force citizens to house soldiers in their homes, or establish military rule during times of peace and stated the monarch needed Parliament’s permission to raise taxes

An English HeritageRepresentative Government

In 1688, before William and Mary of Orange could become King and Queen Parliament made them sign the English Bill of Rights

It clearly stated that monarchy could not rule without consent of Parliament—it forbade the monarch from maintaining an army without Parliamentary consent and said that Parliament should operate without royal interferenceThese three documents made it so that monarch could only rule with the consent of the people it governed

Colonial DevelopmentThe first permanent English colony was Jamestown, Virginia in 1607Jamestown and other later settlements showed the influence of basic English principles in government

Colonial DevelopmentCharters

Charters is an agreement whereby the English monarch gave settlers the right to establish a colonyThe charter set government and established the way officials could be chosen and how counsels are chosen

Colonial DevelopmentGovernments

Georgia was the last of the first 13 colonies in 1733Each colony had aspects of representative and limited government

Colonial DevelopmentGovernments

A governor was chosen as an execute, a counsel was chosen to advise the governor who were electedThere were three types of colonies

Royal– belonged directly to the crownProprietary—granted by a king to an individualCorporate colonies were founded without any direct authorization from the English government