King John abused his power over England through unfair taxes and limiting individual rights, leading to the Magna Carta in 1215 which limited the king's power and protected rights. The English Bill of Rights of 1689 further protected rights and served as an example for both colonial bills of rights and the US Bill of Rights. The distance from England and Protestant beliefs led colonies like Virginia and Plymouth to establish representative governments through documents like the Mayflower Compact and Fundamental Orders of Connecticut to guarantee colonists' rights and self-government.
HIS 131 The Bonds of Empire, 1660-1750 Chapter 4
As we have seen, the English colonies in America had originated in several different ways and as quite different and diverse projects…and for the most part, they evolved independent of each other.
There was also little thought that they belonged or ought to belong together in one system…Yet the growing economic success of the colonies was, by the mid-17th century, creating pressure in England for a more rational and organized structure to this new British Empire in the New World.
Reorganization, many claimed, would increase the profitability of the colonies and the power of the English government to supervise the colonies….Above all, it would contribute to the success of the mercantile system, which had become the foundation of the English economy.
I. The Development of Empire
A. Mercantilism
One of the arguments for colonization in the first place had been that colonies would increase the wealth of the mother country and lessen its independence on other nations.
According to the theory of mercantilism…England would prosper and grow strong by exporting more and more to foreigners and importing less and less from them….Colonies would help this goal by not only providing a market for England’s manufactured goods, but also by providing a source of raw materials England could not produce at home.
On the whole, the mercantile system would also meet the needs of the colonies as well….The colonies stood to gain by concentrating on the crude products of the field and forest, and exchanging these products for the finer goods of manufacturers in England.
In actual practice, the colonies did turn out products that the mother country needed for its own consumption or for resale to foreigners….such as, tobacco, furs, and lumber. But the colonies also produced surpluses of some items…such as, wheat, flour, and fish…and these items competed with commodities produced in England.
Therefore, the colonial producers often found that they could make a better profit dealing directly with foreigners as opposed to going through the mother country, England.
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Because of this, a high level of direct trade developed between English colonists and foreign countries…
As mentioned earlier, England had been involved in a civil war between Charles I and Parliament….Distracted as they were, the English government made only partial efforts to control colonial trade in accordance with England’s mercantile principles.
However, after the Restoration, under Charles II, the government went much further…adopting legislation that had the goal of controlling ...
In order to understand the foundations of our government today and that of our founding fathers, we need to take a look back, way back. This is a picture of King John. His actions angered the people of England, especially the English nobles. You know the story of Robin Hood, well he is the King they are fighting. Using their power, the nobles forced King John to sign a charter protecting the fundamental rights of the people.
Although many of the rights protected under the Magna Carta only served a small portion of the population—the wealthy nobles—it served as a foundation for future protection of rights for all people.
So why is the Magna Carta a document as old as dirt, so important to our history? Without individual rights our entire lives would be dictated by the government. Another document is also important…
Around 1628 England was experiencing Civil Wars between the monarchy (King/Queen) and Parliament, The Civil Wars saw the power of England being exchanged between Parliaments and a monarch. Prior to King William and Queen Mary seen here, the Parliament were in charge of the government but needed assistance so they restored King James who was Catholic, but when his wife had a son the Parliament feared they would return England to a catholic monarchy so they forced out King James and placed his daughter a protestant from a previous marriage and her husband to the throne and had them sign the English Bill of Rights. Many of the settlers going to the colonies in the 1630s and later were used to certain individual rights in England which they felt extended to the New World. Tomorrow we will discuss how those individual rights transferred to the colonies.
The English men and women who traveled to the New World were English citizens. They expected to maintain their English rights while in the American colonies. So, to ensure their rights they established colonial governments.
A colonial assembly consisted of persons elected as representatives to government.
It is importance lies in the belief that for government to be legitimate, it must come from those it governs.
The Fundamental Orders is a short document that contains 11 Orders. These adopted principles were later applied in helping shape the United States Constitution. Government is based on the rights of an individual, and the orders spell out some of those rights, as well as how the government ensures them.