This eLesson was written by Kathy Hagee, a member of BRI’s teacher council. During the time of British colonial rule in North America, the American colonists experienced various opportunities of limited self-rule that would ultimately influence later constitutional ideals during the Founding Era. Self-rule led to the founding principles of representative governance, majority rule, separation of church and state, and revolution. This activity should be used as a review for Period 2 (College Board – AP US History). Show Objective: (College Board – AP US History)Explain how ideas like democracy, freedom, and individualism found expression in the development of cultural values, political intuitions, and the American identity. Colonists’ resistance to imperial control drew on local experiences of self-government, evolving ideas of liberty, the political thought of the Enlightenment, greater religious independence, and diversity. Resources section:Handout A Handout B Directions: Read the background for each source below. Then, read each source in Handout A and use it to fill out the table in Handout B. 1619: House of Burgesses (representative) Established in 1619, the House of Burgesses was the first representative assembly in colonial British North American. The membership was tightly restricted to certain families of wealthy landowners. The House of Burgesses was one of the earliest examples of colonial limited self-government. 1620: Mayflower Compact (majority rule & Separation of Church and State) After receiving permission to settle in British North America, William Bradford and a group of Separatists left Leiden, Holland for North America in 1619. This group, known as the Pilgrims, signed a governing document called the Mayflower Compact prior to disembarking their ship at modern day Massachusetts. Access our annotated version of the Mayflower Compact here. 1639: Fundamental Orders of 1639 (constitution) Religious dissenters from Massachusetts founded the colony of Hartford in 1636. These settlers, led by Reverend Thomas Hooker, drew up the first written constitution in American history. This document laid out the provisions for a representative government consisting of a legislature elected by popular vote and a governor chosen by that legislature. 1643: New England Confederation (colonial unity) Four New England colonies joined together in a military alliance known as the New England Confederation in response to the growing threat of attack from American Indians, the Dutch, and French. Two representatives from each state sat on a board which had limited powers to act on boundary disputes, the return of runaway servants, and dealing with Americans Indians. 1676: Nathaniel Bacon’s Declaration (colonial revolt) Nathaniel Bacon was a wealthy Virginia planter who led an uprising of poor workers and servants against Governor William Berkeley. Bacon and his followers were angry that royal officials did little to defend the frontier against American Indian attacks despite collecting large amounts of taxes. Bacon released this document to state the reasons for his rebellion. Activity plan
Directions (1–50): For each statement or question, record on your separate answer sheet the number of the word or expression that, of those given, best completes the statement or answers the question.  2a. The Colonial ExperienceJohn Winthrop was the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, one of the eight colonies governed by royal charter in the colonial period. They created and nurtured them. Like children, the American colonies grew and flourished under British supervision. Like many adolescents, the colonies rebelled against their parent country by declaring independence. But the American democratic experiment did not begin in 1776. The colonies had been practicing limited forms of self-government since the early 1600s. The great expanse of the Atlantic Ocean created a safe distance for American colonists to develop skills to govern themselves. Despite its efforts to control American trade, England could not possibly oversee the entire American coastline. Colonial merchants soon learned to operate outside British law. Finally, those who escaped religious persecution in England demanded the freedom to worship according to their faiths. Colonial GovernmentsEach of the thirteen colonies had a charter, or written agreement between the colony and the king of England or Parliament. Charters of royal colonies provided for direct rule by the king. A colonial legislature was elected by property holding males. But governors were appointed by the king and had almost complete authority — in theory. The legislatures controlled the salary of the governor and often used this influence to keep the governors in line with colonial wishes. The first colonial legislature was the Virginia House of Burgesses, established in 1619. The colonies along the eastern coast of North America were formed under different types of charter, but most developed representative democratic governments to rule their territories. When the first Pilgrims voyaged to the New World, a bizarre twist of fate created a spirit of self-government. These Pilgrims of the Mayflower were bound for Virginia in 1620, but they got lost and instead landed at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. Since Plymouth did not lie within the boundaries of the Virginia colony, the Pilgrims had no official charter to govern them. So they drafted the Mayflower Compact, which in essence declared that they would rule themselves. Although Massachusetts eventually became a royal colony, the Pilgrims at Plymouth set a powerful precedent of making their own rules that later reflected itself in the town meetings that were held across colonial New England.
Trade and TaxationColonial economies operated under mercantilism, a system based on the belief that colonies existed in order to increase the mother country's wealth. England tried to regulate trade, and forbid colonies from trading with other European countries. England also maintained the right to tax the colonies. Both trade and taxation were difficult for England to control, and so an informal agreement emerged. England regulated trade but allowed colonists the right to levy their own taxes. Smugglers soon exploited the English inability to guard every port by secretly trading against Parliament's wishes. A proprietary charter allowed the governor of the colony to rule with great power over his lands. In William Penn's Pennsylvania, that power was used to establish a land of religious tolerance. This delicate agreement was put to test by the French and Indian War. The war was expensive, and from the British point of view, colonists should help pay for it, especially considering that England believed it was protecting the colonists from French and Indian threats. The new taxes levied by the Crown nevertheless horrified the colonists. British naval measures to arrest smugglers further incited American shippers. These actions served as stepping stones to the Revolution. Religious FreedomReligious freedom served as a major motivation for Europeans to venture to the American colonies. Puritans and Pilgrims in Massachusetts, Quakers in Pennsylvania, and Catholics in Maryland represented the growing religious diversity in the colonies. Rhode Island was founded as a colony of religious freedom in reaction to zealous Puritans. As a result, many different faiths coexisted in the colonies. This variety required an insistence on freedom of religion since the earliest days of British settlement. So the colonial experience was one of absorbing British models of government, the economy, and religion. Over the course of about 150 years, American colonists practiced these rudimentary forms of self-government that eventually led to their decision to revolt against British rule. The democratic experiment of American self-rule was therefore not a sudden change brought about by the Declaration of Independence. By 1776, Americans had plenty of practice. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 Report broken link William Penn Report broken link The 1765 Stamp Act Report broken link Sir Walter Raleigh's Royal Charter Report broken link Taxes in Colonial Virginia Report broken link If you like our content, please share it on social media! |
