Influences on American Colonial Government

1. Chapter 4 The American Colonies and Their
Governments
Lesson 1 Influences on American Colonial
Government

2. Foundations of Democracy
• Guiding Question:
• What ancient principles, traditions, and events have
shaped the system of government we use today??
• Origins of American Political System
– Traced to ancient democracies
– Democracy: rule by the people

3. Foundations of Democracy
• Democracy did not always exist
• Fluctuated, people also ruled by monarchs (Kings and
Queens) or single ruler (dictator)
• Earliest foundation: Judaism
• Ancient Judaism taught every person has worth, is
equal before the law
– This belief is basic principle of democracy

4. Ancient Democracies
• Centuries later, 400 B.C.
Greek city-state Athens
– World’s 1st Democracy
• All free men over 18
considered citizens,
attended the assembly
– 500 member council carried
out its decisions
• This council governed
Athens
• Direct Democracy – system
in which people govern
themselves, all people vote
– Possible in Athens due to
small city-state size
– Not practical in places with
large populations
• In such places, people
choose leaders to govern
for them, called a
Representative Democracy
(Republic)

5. Ancient Democracies
• Ancient Rome created
world’s 1st republic in 509
B.C.
– Romans overthrew the King
and placed power in a Senate
– Members chosen by the
upper class known as
patricians
– Senators elected two
members, called consuls, to
lead the government
• Both consuls had to agree
• Each consul could block
actions of other by saying
veto, or “I forbid!”
• Rome’s common citizens,
plebeians, grew tired of patricians
rule
• Long struggle, plebeians gain
political equality in 287 B.C.

6. Ancient Rome

7. Early English Influences
• Roman Empire collapsed in
400s A.D.
• Kings and Lords ruled
Europe for next 700 years
• Feudalism – Lords inherited
land, wealth power
– Business and trade growth in
towns weakened power of
lords
• Kings gained more control
of their kingdoms
• Lords resisted the change
• In England, lords forced King
John to sign the Magna
Carta document, 1215
• Magna Carta (Latin for
“Great Charter”)
• Limited king’s power,
forbade certain taxes w/out
lords’ consent

8. The Magna Carta
• Right to equal treatment under the law
• Right to trial by jury –
– free people could no longer be arrested, imprisoned or
exiled w/out
• Guaranteed English citizens could only be judged by English
law
• (meaning the king couldn’t just decide you needed to die)
• Reflected today in the 5th and 6th amendments to the U.S.
Constitution
• Important, it established the principle of limited government
– the idea that a ruler or government is not all-powerful

9. The Magna Carta

10. English Bill of Rights
• In 1689, England’s Parliament strengthened the rights
of the Magna Carta with the English Bill of Rights.
– Agreement entailed King had to accept rules set
by Parliament
• Prevented taxation without representation
• Prevented cruel and unusual punishments
• (just like our 8th amendment)
• Protected the right to bear arms
• (just like our 2nd amendment)
• Protected freedom of speech (for law makers)

11. English Bill of Rights

12. Questions
• How did the Magna Carta establish the principle of
limited government?
• How did Europe’s Enlightenment influence ideas
about government in what became the United
States?

13. Enlightenment Influences
• Conflict between monarch
and Parliament part of
larger cultural movement
• European Enlightenment
– a movement toward a more
scientific, rational worldview
Scientific discoveries in 1600s
laws of the universe –
Assumption: Apply laws that
ruled nature to human nature
and society
• New political thinking
• Thomas Hobbes
– Believed an agreement, called
the social contract, existed
between government and
people
– In this contract, people agree
to give up some freedom to
be ruled by government that
protected people’s rights.

14. Enlightenment Thinkers
• John Locke
– Believed in natural rights – idea that all people are born
equal with certain God-given rights
– Right to life, to freedom, and own property
– Updated the Social Contract, like Hobbes
– Montesquieu – developed idea that power of government
divided into separate branches

15. Enlightenment Thinkers
• Colonists and Founding Fathers views about government
shaped by Enlightenment thinkers
– The Social Contract
– Natural Rights
– Separation of powers
– Influenced the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution heavily
– Main Difference:
– Hobbes believed in a single ruthless ruler, whereas
Locke believed that if ruler failed to protect the rights
of the people, people could choose new leaders

16. The First Colonial Governments
• English colonies began in
1600s
• Colony –
– an area of settlement in one
place controlled by a country in
another place
– Early colonists brought to
America the traditions, beliefs,
and changed shaping England’s
government
• Jamestown
– 1st permanent settlement in
Virginia 1607
– 1st representative democracy in
colonial America
– By Virginia Company – business
owned by London merchants to
make money
– Colonists elected leaders to
represent them in an assembly
– leaders called burgesses
– Assembly: House of Burgesses

17. The Mayflower Compact
• The Puritans wrote the Mayflower Compact
as they arrived in Massachusetts (named
after their boat) in 1620
• Puritans reserved the right to choose their
own leaders and make their own laws.

18. The Mayflower Compact

19. Mayflower Compact
• Established a Direct
Democracy
– Plymouth, Mass.
• Signers agreed to obey
laws of colony
• Held town meetings
– Discuss problems, make
decisions
• Compact – written
agreement, contract

20. Chapter Questions
• What is the main idea of
the Magna Carta?
• What is guaranteed by
the Magna Carta? How is
this like our Constitution?
• What beliefs about
government did early
English colonists bring to
America?
• Magna Carta says no one
is above the law
• Trial by jury (5th and 6th
amendments)
– Assignment Lesson 1
Review p. 91 &
Enlightenment thinkers
Chart Skills p. 89

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