Causes Of Democratization Of North American Colonies

The American Revolution was the culmination of tension between the free-thinking and developing Colonists and the dominating and tax-imposing British. The war lasted from 1776 to 1783, but the most important part of the war was the events leading up to it, in which Colonists began to develop democratic thoughts about their social, political, economic, and religious life. People began to understand democratic ideas and it’s benefits, and many decided to make an active effort to increase the amount of democracy in their life. Democratic is defined as favoring or characterized by social equality. A democratic lifestyle is a fair and equal one, and the years leading up to the revolution brought a democratic environment to the Colonies. Despite lack of greater property distribution, the 1700s brought great democratic change to Colonial America, which experienced a democratic movement religiously in the separation of church and state, which led to social changes including slavery and new thinking, that led to democratic and intellectual political reforms.

Written documents proved to be a major influence on the unification of the American colonies. Beginning as early as 1620, when the Separatist Pilgrims left the jurisdiction of the Church of England and escaped the “Dutchification” of their children in Holland to go to the New World, the establishment of self-government through the Mayflower Compact became present. It was heavily based off of the Magna Carta of 1215 which provided the foundation of the rule of law. Created and signed by the adult males onboard, the document stated that the Pilgrims would “combine [themselves] together into one civil body politic, for [their] better ordering and preservation” (Document 1). It went on to declare that they would abide by the newly formed laws and elect officers. This led to the creation of town meetings, places of direct democracy where men could work together with each other to create laws.

First, England wanted to let American Colonists make their own Government and they did. The colonist from colonies in Massachusetts made their Government around religious ideas, in Pennsylvania made theirs around religious tolerance, and Virginia made the first elected government call the House of Burgess. At The House

Between 1607 and 1763, the British North American colonies developed experience in, and the expectation of self government in the political, religious, economic and social aspects of life.

Between 1607 and 1733, Great Britain established thirteen colonies in the New World along the land’s eastern coast. England’s colonies included Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Though the colonies were classified as New England, middle or southern colonies, the colonists developed a unifying culture. With this new American culture, the colonists throughout the colonies began to think differently than their English cousins. Because colonial America displayed characteristics of a democratic society and, therefore, deviated from England’s monarchic ways, it was established as a democratic society.

Colonists were practicing a democratic features in colonial america time because Great Britain is hundreds of miles away. Democracy in colonial America was in a work in progress with democratic and undemocratic features.

Democracy did not occur in a matter of seconds, it took years of evolution to become what it is today. The thought of a self-government during a world ruled by monarchs would have you locked up in a mental hospital. As you can figure, democracy did not just come out of the nowhere, it had to be planned out and modified over the years. The earliest contributions and influences of The American Government came from philosophers, some of them are the part of our founding fathers and others influenced them to develop the strong nation we are today.

DBQ - Democracy in Colonial America Essay The thirteen colonies in America began early on to develop democratic features. Accountability, individual or human rights, and regular free and fair elections are only a few principles that make up today's democracy. Today's democracy is quite different from how it was during colonial times. In colonial America, there were many democratic and undemocratic features that made democracy a work in progress.

DBQ - Democracy in Colonial America Essay Colonial America was a work in progress with democratic and undemocratic features. One democratic feature is accountability. Accountability means, elected and appointed officials are responsible for their electors. Document #3 The Fundamental Orders Of Connecticut.

The Southern colonies, Middle colonies, and New England colonies all developed their political experience in self-government. The Southern colonies interchanged religion with politics, similar to the New England colonies. Specifically in the Chesapeake colony of Maryland, the Toleration Act of 1649 was passed in order to grant freedom of religion resulting in the first act to be passed regarding religious freedom. The New England colonies’ political views were also strongly influenced by their Puritan beliefs, which led to the separation of the church and state. However, the Middle colonies believed in religious freedom. Pennsylvania created the first democracy in America, which promised the equality for all. The varied political aspects of each colony created in the early to mid-eighteenth century even impacts even the politics in society

Although very limited, colonial America established primitive forms of democratic government. Across colonial America, early democracy began to take form. This development can be attributed to many factors, namely the desire of American settlers to distance themselves from Britain’s tyrannical government, and thus their wish to prevent this form of government form appearing in America. Other contributing factors were the democracy and egalitarianism-centered morals of the religiously devout American settlers.

This consisted of a king or queen and a lawmaking body, or parliament. Before the colonies turned into the United States, each of them was either ruled by the King as a royal colony or had their own separate governments. A pioneering instance of government was in the Mayflower Compact. It was the first document that was similar to a constitution. The writers “created a ‘Civil Body Politic’ to enact ‘just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices’ (“Mayflower Compact”).

In Jamestown, England’s first permanent American colony, the Virginia Company promised the settlers self-government not subject to whims of the ruler, but rather, to fair rules established by the first elected legislature in America. This legislature, which met in the House of Burgress, was loyal to the English monarchy and created a representative assembly, the roots of democracy. Similarly, in the Carolinas, the proprietors promised that laws were to be made by a representative assembly. Thirteen years after Jamestown was established, the Pilgrims drafted the Mayflower Compact, which guaranteed a civil government still loyal to the king.

On June 21, 1788 the constitution was ratified. Our first constitution, also known as the Articles of Confederation, was adopted towards the end of the Revolutionary War. Adopting the constitution helped us create a system of government where most of the powers were store in the states rather in the central government. The constitution pushed for a loose confederation of independent states with little power in the central government. Although the articles behold good intentions, it held no sustainability. War and peace could be made but tax could not. Trade could not be regulated. Laws passed by Congress did not ensure total enforcement. If states conflicted with one another there would be no national court system to dispute it. For a national

The European conquest for establishing North American colonies began with various motivations, each dependent on different, and/or merging necessities: economics, the desire to flee negative societal aspects, and the search for religious freedoms. Originally discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 in search for a trade route to Cathay (China), North America remained uninhabited, excluding the Native American establishments. Following this discovery, Spain –along with other European nations such as France, England, Sweden and the Netherlands– soon began the expedition to the new land with vast expectations. Driven by economic, societal, and religious purposes, the New World developed into a diversely structured colonial establishment