Lesson 5.2: Roots of Representative Government

Today we will trace the expansion of the rights of English subjects and discuss early self-

government in the colonies.

Vocabulary • trace – follow a sequence of events in

chronological order• compact – a legal agreement; a contract• bicameral – describes a legislative body

with two houses or branches• assembly – group of people brought

together to perform a function, especially to make laws

What We Already Know

Since the voyages of Columbus, Europeans had begun establishing colonies in North

America.

What We Already Know

In 1620, the Mayflower was blown off course and landed off Cape Cod on the Massachusetts coast (instead of Virginia, where they were supposed to

go) and established an English colony called Plymouth.

What We Already Know

The Great Awakening and the Enlightenment began to change how

Englishmen felt about their government.

The Magna Carta (1215)The king’s powers were limited:

• Free men’s property rights protected

• Taxation only with the consent of a council of prominent men

• No trial without witnesses• Trial by jury of peers• Over time, these rights were

extended to all Englishmen.

Changes in Parliament

• Parliament was the group that made laws for the English people.

• Parliament was bicameral, and it consisted of a House or Lords and a House of Commons.

• Members of the noble class inherited seats in the House of Lords.

• Ordinary Englishmen were given the right to elect members to the House of Commons.

The Mayflower Compact• For the sake of order, the men aboard the

Mayflower signed an agreement called the Mayflower Compact in 1620.

• In it, they vowed to obey laws agreed upon for the good of the colony.

• The Mayflower Compact helped establish the idea of self-government and majority rule.

Colonial Representative Assemblies• The king and Parliament were too far away to

manage every detail of the colonies, and English colonists wanted to have a say in making the laws that governed them.

• Colonists were allowed to elect men to colonial assemblies, which could make laws to govern the colonies.

Colonial Representative Assemblies• Virginia’s House of Burgesses was the first

colonial assembly, but the assemblies’ power was limited .

• Their laws only had power within their colonies, and these laws had to be approved by the governor, who usually was appointed by the king.

• Colonists could not elect representatives to Parliament, so they had no input on new laws.

• Colonists disliked some of the laws that affected the colonies, and they also began to clash with royal governors.

Edmund Andros• 1685 – New king James II

cracked down on colonial smuggling.

• King James II created the Dominion of New England by combining Massachu-setts with other New England colonies.

Edmund Andros• James II appointed Andros

as governor of the Dominion.

• Andros angered colonists by shutting down colonial assemblies and by suspending jury trials.

• When colonists protested their loss of rights by refusing to pay their taxes, Andros had them jailed.

The English Bill of Rights

• Parliament overthrew James II in 1688, and replaced him with his daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange.

• William and Mary agreed to the English Bill of Rights, which built upon the Magna Carta and strengthened the rights of the people.

• No laws cancelled or taxes imposed without the consent of Parliament

• Free elections and frequent meetings of Parliament to be held

• No excessive fines or cruel punishments• People could complaining to the king in

Parliament without fear of arrest

The English Bill of Rights

The Bill of Rights established the important principle of the government being based on laws made by Parliament, not on the desires of a ruler.

The English Bill of Rights• In Boston, after hearing

that James had fallen, American colonists arrested Andros and Parliament restored their colonial assemblies.

• Royal governors could still veto laws passed by the assemblies, but they paid the governor’s salary.

• If a governor blocked the assembly, the assembly might refuse to pay him.

Salutary Neglect

• During the first half of the 1700s, England interfered very little in colonial affairs.

• Parliament passed laws but they were rarely enforced in the colonies.

• During this period of salutary neglect, colonists got used to acting on their own.

The Zenger Trial• In 1735, newspaper

publisher John Peter Zenger was on trial for printing criticism of New York’s governor.

• Zenger’s lawyer argued that people had the right to speak the truth. The jury agreed, and he was released.

• The Zenger trial helped establish the freedom of the press to print the truth.