Colonial Government Research Paper

Most colonies had a powerful royal governor appointed by the King of England. These royal governors often held massive power, being able to do things that even the king could not do, such as vetoing legislation and dismissing judges. They also served as the military commander for their province. In most colonies, adult, white, and land-owning males were permitted to vote in elections. The New England colonies’ governments were dominated by religion. They followed a unique form of church government known as congregationalism, where the people, known as the saints, pledged to follow God’s law. In the Middle colonies, a document called Duke’s Laws guaranteed religious toleration and created local governments. The colonies had Councils and Assemblies that gathered to initiate legislation. In the Southern colonies, one of the first representative-style governments was created. The House of Burgesses was created in 1619 in Virginia by Sir Edwin Sandys, and was created mostly to make the colony more attractive to wealthy

A1: Though the three English colonial regions—the Chesapeake area, New England, and Pennsylvania—were all relatively close to each other, there were stark differences between them. To begin with, they all had very different government structures. In the Chesapeake area, the government closely resembled that of England where power resided in one individual. In England there was a king while in Maryland, there was a royal governor. In both cases, the ruling individual had control over all branches of the government; however, the successor of the first governor in Maryland soon realized that colonists would not enjoy fewer liberties in the colonies than at home. Hence, Cecilius Calvert gave up their rights to initiate all colonial laws and shifted power to the people by governing by their advice and with consent. On the other hand, in New England, government was theocratic in nature where church and state were synonymous and where power resided in the leaders of the church. In addition, the Pennsylvanians had a much more democratic government structure where there was a proprietor and a legislative assembly that gave the people the right to appoint government officials—one of many rights that

What was colonial government even like? The colonial government had governors. Governors had the final decision and could persuade assemblies to do what they wanted by disobeying a not paying their salaries. Colonial Governors had an advisory council, colonial assemblies, colonial courts, and town meetings. The advisory council would get together with Virginia Assembly (or VA) to create or select VA’s houses. One house was called Council of State and the other, House of Burgesses. This was a bicameral legislature which was the lawmaking group or body with two houses. Colonial assemblies would do the same. The lower house in bicameral legislature could raise taxes.

All the British colonial governments were similar in the way of how they were run as an extension of the British government. The colonies enforced the common law of England as their law system. Their governments were all democratic and elected their own members of parliament. British colonial governments had court systems and governors. In the New England colonies the government systems used were Royal governments: where colonies under this were ruled directly by the British monarch, and Charter governments, where the colonies under this, where charters allowed self-governance to joint-stock companies. Middle and Southern colonies were different - some of their colonies used Royal government, while others also used Proprietary government, where land was granted to proprietors who had full governing rights. Each separate legislature/parliament per colony led to my belief that the colonies were not unified as a whole. Though they followed the same law, all the legislative differed by the region, same with the types of Government - Royal, Charter, and Proprietary. Not all the colonies were ruled by the same type of government, so the colonial regions would have to be represented by different

In being colonies of England, a country whose government is partially representative and partially monarchic, the American colonists struggled to create democratic societies because they were forced to accept the British laws and duties passed by the British government, however, they did succeed. Though at first, while the colonists were struggling to establish themselves in the colonies, they welcomed the support of their motherland. As time pass went on, however, the colonists were divided in opinions. Some colonists became loyalists, many felt patriotic to their colony and some remained undecidedly neutral. When the colonies realized how interconnected and alike they were, they decided to call for intercolonial congresses. Through these intercolonial assemblies whichever colonies chose to be represented were able to be. Therefore, the colonists in colonial America were governed by a government for and by

The Assemblies controlled the government because the assemblies have the financial power and all the support. The American colonies were failed as a useful government by the British. Navigation acts were laws that restricted the use of foreign ships for trade between Britain and its colonies, also its designed to implement the mercantilist. The English mercantilists object was to increase the wealth of the England in gold and silver, also to minimize imports that cost money and maximize exports and trades.. The merchants would sell products to foreign nations and purchased items to be sold within the nation. The nation would produce everything its people needed and but nothing from foreign

Prior to the revolution, the American Colonies consisted of several self-governing structures. The first “miniature parliament” was the House of Burgesses, which was the first assembly of settlers that formed a legislative. It could create laws and levy taxes, but ultimately was not centralized to all the colonies. After the revolution, Congress established the Articles of Confederation. According to the US Department of State, “the Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States.

Tyranny can form in a democracy government. In 1787 state leaders began to write the Constitution. Under the Articles of Confederation, there was no chief executive and no court system. The goal was to create a new Constitution that would prevent tyranny. James Madison worried if we didn't have checks and balances there would be to much power given to one group.

It was less of a set of laws and more of a reassurance to the citizens that they have have a say in their government, unlike in the British colonies. Before the colonies became the United States, the British had a colonial government. This meant that “ 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.”

All the colonies shared the tradition of representative government. The English monarch appointed many of the colonial governors, but all of them were to govern together with an elected assembly. The vote was restricted to white male landowners, but most white men had enough property to vote. Moreover England could not exercise direct control over its American colonies. London was too far away, and the settlers had a very independent spirit, moreover that the very statutes of foundation of each colony the English Crown recognized the internal autonomy of the settlers. Finally, the absence of great mineral wealth in the colonies (gold and silver mines) discouraged a direct intervention of Great Britain in the Thirteen Colonies government.

The United States (British Colonies) needed to separate from Britain because of growing unrest. The colonies attracted more and more immigrants and had steady growth in their 150 years. Most of the growth was in urban areas like Boston and Philadelphian. These big cities had large populations of free people and slaves who had contrasting views, but were living in the same condensed areas. The immigrants had no loyalty to the British monarchy, so attitudes towards the crown greatly shifted. This shift started when Britain passed the Proclamation of 1763, saying the colonists could not settle in Indian country. With cities overflowing and land available in the west, immigrants with no loyalty disobeyed the crown and went west.

By the middle of the 18th century differences had developed between the mother country and the growing American colonies. Local political institutions and practice changed significantly from English ways. The British government, like other imperial powers in the 18th century believed in mercantilism. This belief had a detrimental impact on the relationship between the British and the American colonies because Since the colonies were only meant to bring wealth to the mother country. Prior to the 1760's laws imposed by Parliament were only loosely enforced. The colonies were by and large allowed to develop freely with little interference from England. Over time, these loosely enforced acts began to be enforced, causing tension between the colonies

Each of the three branches is controlled by the other two in several ways. The president can veto a law which was passed by Congress, yet Congress can override the veto with a two-thirds vote of both houses. Members of the Supreme Court, which are appointed by the president and approved by Congress, can declare a law passed by Congress is unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution, Article 1 Section 1, states that the legislative branch be created from two separate bodies: a House of Representatives and a Senate, together is known as Congress.

The British’s neglect resulted in the colonies feeling as if they were independent. With the colonial assemblies claiming they had the right to levy taxes, make appropriations, approve appointments, and pass laws for their colony. Despite the Privy Council and the British appointed governors ability to veto laws, colonial assemblies controlled the budget and could repass laws in slightly altered forms. The assemblies saw themselves as little parliaments, each with the same level of power in their individual colony, as Parliament had over England. With no colonial office in London, and Parliament believing that avoiding enforcing their strict trading restrictions would stimulate commerce. The colonies were allowed to develop and govern themselves with little outside interference. While the Privy Council, the admiralty, and the treasury were responsible for overseeing laws at home and overseas, none of them explicitly dealt with the 13 colonies alone. To make matters more difficult, there was a considerable amount of overlap and lack of clarity between the authorities of each department. Lessening the ability of each department to control the

The colonial period in the United States all started when people starting immigrating to Boston in the 1630s. With high articulation of Puritan cultural ideas, the New England colonies have been regarded as the center of early American literature. In class we only talked about a few of the writing throughout the period but in this paper, I am going to tell you about the colonial period as a whole.