1. Origins of the American Revolution
US History: Spiconardi

2. Influences on the American Government
Ancient Greece (Athens)
Democracy  rule by the people
Ancient Rome
Republic voters elect representatives who speak and act for the people in government
Magna Carta
Placed limits on the king’s power to rule
English Bill of Rights
Established the precedent that representative government & the rule of law outweighed the monarch’s power

3. Influences on the American Government
The Enlightenment Thinkers
John Locke
Right to life, liberty, and property
Baron de Montesquieu
separation of powers & checks and balances
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Social Contract – government needs the consent of the governed

4. Colonial Assemblies & Government
New England
Town Meetings allowed citizens to govern themselves through direct democracy
House of Burgesses
First representative lawmaking body established in the colonies (Virginia 1619)
Self-Government

5. The Colonial Experience: Salutary Neglect & Mercantilism
Colonies left alone by England to deal with local matters
Parliamentary laws that were meant to keep the colonies subservient were not enforced
Mercantilism
Policy in which country exports more than it imports
Colonies exist to provide raw materials and markets for the economic benefit of the mother country

6. Mercantilism in English Colonies

7. Practice Questions
“The individual can be free only when the power of one government branch is balanced by the other two.”
~Baron de Montesquieu
The idea expressed in this quotation is best illustrated by which aspect of the United States government?
Existence of a Cabinet
Separation of powers
Elastic clause
Executive privilege
In the colonial era, developments such as the New England town meetings and the establishment of the Virginia House of Burgesses represented…
Colonial attempts to build a strong national government
Efforts by the British to strengthen control over the colonies
Steps in the growth of representative democracy
Early social reform movements