R oots of American Democracy

1. Roots of American Democracy Chapter 2

2. Our English Heritage Section 1

3. What Influenced Colonial Government? • Enlightenment- • A cultural movement in England where many of the rights that American citizens came from. • When English people began settling here in the 1600s, they brought with them new ideas about law, society, and the rights people possessed.

4. The Magna Carta • In 1215, nobles rebelled against King John. • They force him to sign the Magna Carta. • This document protected the noble’s privileges and authority. • It also granted certain rights to all landholders, rights that came to apply to all English people. • The Magna Carta limited the power of the monarch by guaranteeing that no one would be above the law, not even the king or queen.

5. Parliament • The legislature of Great Britain. • Typically Parliament and the King cooperate. • Parliament represents the common people. • The Glorious Revolution- • A peaceful transfer of power that changed government in England. • No further ruler would have more power than parliament. • English Bill of Rights (1689)- • it further restricted the monarch’s power. • It guaranteed free elections to Parliament, the right to a fair trial, and the elimination of cruel and unusual punishment.

6. Common Law • Precedent- • A ruling in an earlier case that was similar. • Used by judges to make consistent rulings in cases. • Common Law- • A system of law based on precedent and customs.

7. Philosophical Influences • John Locke- • English writer who supported the Glorious Revolution. • He argued that people were born, free, equal, and independent. • People also possessed natural rights. • Life, liberty, and property that no government could take away.

8. What is a Social Contract? • Social contract- • An agreement among the people in a society. • They agree to give up part of their freedom to a government in exchange for protection of natural rights. • The people agree to obey the government as long as it protects those rights. • Jean-Jacques Rousseau- • Argued that people alone had the right to determine how they should be governed.

9. Separation of Powers • Baron de Montesquieu- • French writer • Developed the idea about dividing the branches of government into different parts to balance each other. • This prevents one branch from becoming more powerful than the others. • Montesquie’s branches of government and Locke’s ideas of social contract and rights became the cornerstones of the Declaration of Independence. • Enlightenment thinkers argued that the laws that governed nature also applied to human life and society.

10. Colonial Traditions of Self-Government • Colony- • A group of people in one place who are ruled by a parent country elsewhere. • the early colonists remained loyal subjects of England. • They accepted common law and believed that the ruler was not above the law. • Representative Government- • Joint-stock company- • Provides investors partial ownership and a share in future profits. • Charter- • A written document granting land and the authority to set up colonial governments.

11. The Mayflower Compact • Compact- • An agreement among a group of people. • The Mayflower compact was written by pilgrims as a way to establish rules in the new world. • 41 men aboard signed the compact. • Town Meetings • The Mayflower Compact established a tradition of direct democracy. • Throughout the colonial period and even in New England today, citizens held town meetings to address local problems and issues. • Anyone in the town could attend and express an opinion.

12. Fundamental Orders of Connecticut • The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut- • America’s first written constitution. • This document called for an assembly of elected representatives from each town to make laws. • It also called for the popular elections of a governor and judges. • Early Legislatures- • Each colony had a governor. • The governor was elected by the colonists or appointed by the English King. • Each colony had a legislature with representatives elected by the free adult males.

13. The English Colonies Section 2

14. Settling the Colonies • By 1733, there were 13 English colonies. • These colonies were founded in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. • New England Colonies: • In 1630, about 900 men, women, and children landed at Massachusetts Bay and built the town of Boston. • By the mid- 1600s, the New England colonies of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire had been founded.

15. The Middle Colonies • Middle Colonies: • Includes New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. • New York was the first and it was founded by the Dutch. • They called it New Netherlands. • An English fleet seized the important harbor town of New Amsterdam in 1664. • The English King gave the city to his brother, the Duke of York. • New York became a proprietary colony. • Where the owner owned the land and controlled the government. • New Jersey broke off of the New York colony and in 1702, it became a royal colony. • A colony owned and ruled directly by the king.

16. Middle Colonies Cont. • Pennsylvania- • A proprietary colony started in 1680. • William Penn received this land from King James. • Penn saw PA as a place to put his Quaker ideals of peace, equality, and justice to work. • Penn offered religious freedom and drew many settlers to his new city of Philadelphia. • Delaware- • In 1704, the southernmost three counties of PA separated and became Delaware.

17. Southern Colonies • Virginia- • Founded as a joint-stock company in 1607. • Became a royal colony in 1624. • Maryland- • Founded in 1734. • Located north of Virginia. • North and South Carolina- • Both developed differently but both became a royal colonies in 1729.

18. Georgia- • The last English colony founded. • A colony established for debtors and poor people. • Designed to give these people a fresh start. • Georgia provided protection for the other colonies from Spanish Florida. • Georgia served as a military barrier.

19. People of the Colonies • Why Did Colonists Immigrate? • Religious Havens: • Religious dissenters- • Those who followed faith other than the official religion of England. • Example: the founders of Massachusetts were puritans. Their goal was to purify the Anglican Church. • Pilgrims- • People on a religious journey who did not believe in toleration (acceptance) of other religions. • Example: Salem Witch Trial • The Quakers founded PA as a safe place for people to practice their religion. • Maryland was founded as a safe haven for Catholics. • Rhode Island became the first place in America to welcome people of all faiths.

20. Economic Opportunity: • Many settlers came to the south for economic reasons. • Carolina was strongly influenced by immigrants of the West Indies. • There people grew rice and indigo. • Indentured Servants- • Made it possible for poor people to come to the colonies. • Colonists in America agreed to pay the cost of transporting the servants to the colonies and promised to provide food, clothing, and shelter to them until their indentures expired. • Conflict Over Land: • The spread of settlements led to conflicts with Native Americans over land.

21. The Beginnings of Slavery • Plantation- • A large estate or farm. • The system of growing tobacco, rice, and indigo demanded more workers than immigration and the indentured system could provide. • Southern Farmers turned to enslaved Africans. • Enslaved workers did not have to be freed and therefore would never need their own land. • Indentured servants retained the rights of English people and the protection of the law. • Africans were protected by no law or tradition.

22. Triangular Trade- • The pattern of trade that developed among the Americas, Africa, and Europe. • The colonists shipped rum to Africa. • Traders exchanged rum for enslaved people and gold. • The enslaved were shipped to the West Indies and traded for sugar and molasses which was used to make rum in America. • The Africans journey was known as the Middle Passage.

23. Colonial Society Section 3

24. The Economy • Colonists in different regions had to adapt or adjust to the climate, soil, natural resources and other factors. • New England- • Most people in New England lived in towns. • Farms were small and located on the towns’ outskirts. • The climate and soil made it difficult to have large-scale farming. • New Englanders worked in small businesses, milling grains, sewing clothes, or making furniture. • Some worked as blacksmiths, shoemakers, or shopkeepers. • Shipbuilding was the most important industry. • The regions forests provided the wood and fishing and whaling also employed many people. • The Puritan religion preached hard work, modest living, and personal virtues. • Known as the puritan ethic.

25. The Middle Colonies • Unlike New England, the soil was more suited to agriculture. • Farmers grew large amounts of wheat and other cash crops, which they sold in markets overseas. • Foreign trade built the ports of New York and Philadelphia. • Industries such as sawmills, mines, and ironworks were developed to take advantage of the regions natural resources.

26. The Southern Colonies • A warm climate, long growing season, and rich soil spurred the growth of large-scale agriculture. • In Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina tobacco was the leading crop. • Rice dominated in South Carolina and Georgia. • Tidewater- • Areas of flat, low plains near the seacoast of Virginia and North Carolina. • The regions rivers made it easy to transport the harvested goods to the coast for shipment to overseas markets.

27. Tidewater crops require large amounts of labor. • Plantation owners had to depend on enslaved African workers. • Small farmers existed but the plantation owners had great wealth and more influence. • Plantation owners controlled the economic and political life of the region. • The region did not develop much industry or commerce. • It traded its many agricultural products for the manufactured goods it needed.

28. An American Identity • Religion- • Religious freedom was the main reason why people came to America. • The Great Awakening- • A powerful religious revival. • Fiery preachers stressed the importance of religious experience and questioned the commitment and authority of some established religious leaders.

29. Education • Religious feelings also led to the founding of America’s first colleges and schools. • Colleges were created for the purpose of training ministers. • Religious groups set up schools to make sure children could read the Bible. • Slave codes- • Strict laws governing the treatment of enslaved people made it illegal to teach enslaved workers to read or write.

30. Family Life • The family formed the foundation of colonial society. • Men were the formal heads of their families. • Wives looked after children and worked on household chores. • On farms, men and women worked together and assisted by older children. • In towns, women sometimes held jobs outside the house. • They worked as maids, cooks, nurses, teachers, or seamstresses. • They usually had their sons work as apprentices to learn a trade. • Married women had very few rights. • While widows and unmarried women could run business and own property. • Women could not vote and men managed all community and church affairs.

31. Ideas About Government • The Great Awakening and the Enlightenment helped create a spirit of egalitarianism or equality. • One belief of many colonists is that they possessed all the traditional rights of native English people. • British trade and tax policies protected British interests at the expense of American businesses. • Government in the Colonies- • the colonies became used to self-government and gradually came to think of it as a right. • By 1733, all 13 colonies had it own constitution.

32. Growing Discontent • Many British polices toward the colonies did not follow the ideas of the Enlightenment and John Locke. • As the century wore on, Americans looked for answers to the problem of a distant and unresponsive British government. • Only one answer seemed to make sense, Independence.

33. Birth of a Democratic Nation Section 4

34. Colonial Resistance • Mercantilism- • The theory that a country’s power depends on its wealth. • A nation should sell more goods than it buys. • More exports than imports. • Great Britain needed the colonies to be a source of cheap raw materials.

35. Growing Tensions • The Albany Plan- • Proposed by Ben Franklin in 1754, the colonies debated a plan for a federal union. • Plan was rejected by the British government. • Showed that many colonists were already thinking about joining together for their common defense. • A series of acts passed by the English government enraged the American colonists.

36. Worsening Relations • In protest to these acts, many colonists decided to boycott British goods. • The Sons of Liberty- • Formed by the colonists throughout the colonies in opposition to the Stamp Act. • Stamp Act Congress- • October 1765 • 9 out of the 13 colonies sent representatives to New York City. • The representatives prepared a declaration against the new British actions. • It was sent to King George III. • 1st time the colonies acted together to oppose the British rule. • The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.

37. New Taxes and a Tea Party • The colonists believed that parliament had no right to tax them if they didn’t have representation in parliament. • No taxation without representation. • The Tea Act- • Passed by parliament, allowed the British East India Company to ship tea to the colonies without paying most of the taxes usually placed on tea. • In December 1773, a group of angry colonist dressed up as Native Americans dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor. • Known as the Boston Tea Party • In response, parliament passed the Coercive Acts which restricted the colonist civil rights.

38. Moving Toward Independence • The 1st Continental Congress- • Met in Philadelphia, Pa, lasting 7 weeks. • The colonists sent King George a document demanding that the rights of the colonist be restored. • They also made plans to extend the boycott of British goods. • King George responded in force. • April 1775, the battles of Lexington and Concord sparked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. • Most people began to look for independence or self-reliance and the freedom from outside control.

39. 2nd Continental Congress • Met in May 1775, in Philadelphia. • Congress debated the course of action against the British. • Common Sense- Thomas Paine • Called for complete independence from Britain. • He called for colonists to struggle for freedom. • The Congress, now acting as a government for the colonies, appointed a committee to write a document that would officially announce the independence of the United States. • Thomas Jefferson from Virginia drafted the document.

40. The Declaration of Independence • Argued that the British government did not look after the interests of the colonies. • They called King George a tyrant and that he was unfit to be ruler. • Democratic Ideals- • Set up in the 2nd paragraph in the Declaration. • Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. • The purpose of a government is to protect the right of the people. • Government is based on the consent, or an agreement, of the people. • The people are also entitled to change a government if it disregards their rights or their combined wishes.

41. An Uncertain Future • The 2nd Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. • The American colonies were now independent states. • True freedom would not officially come until the war ended and Great Britain officially recognized the US as an independent nation.