The Beginning of Democracy in Colonial America Democratic Practices The Beginning of Democracy in Colonial America

I. The Beginning of Self-Government A. In 1619, the Virginia Company sent a governor to Jamestown to rule the colony.

B. The colonists were also given a voice in running the colony’s government. 1. Thus, the first form of representative government began in the English colonies.

C. Adult freemen could elect representatives, or burgesses, to a lawmaking body, the House of Burgesses. 1. Could make laws to govern the colony, but the governor could refuse to approve them

II. The Mayflower Compact A. The Pilgrims were granted a charter to set up a colony in Virginia. 1. However, they landed in Massachusetts, so they were outside the area of their charter and its laws.

2. To establish some kind of law and discipline, Pilgrim leaders decided that they must make an agreement before they went ashore. B. The 41 men aboard signed a document setting up a form of self-government and agreeing to obey laws passed by the majority.

C. This agreement became known as the Mayflower Compact.

III. The General Court A. The Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony created the General Court, which made the laws.

B. At first, it only included Puritans, but later included all adult freemen, as long as they were members of the church.

C. The General Court’s laws represented the Puritan way of thinking: 1. everyone had to attend long Sunday church services. 2. Dancing and games were strictly forbidden.

IV. Fundamental Orders of Connecticut A. Thomas Hooker and other town leaders created the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.

2. It provided for an assembly and an elected governor. 1. This document was the first American constitution, or plan of government to be written. 2. It provided for an assembly and an elected governor. 3. Under this constitution, all men who owned property could vote.

V. Town Meetings A. In New England communities, at the yearly town meeting, all the free men of the town discussed issues. 1. Town meetings were limited at first to land owning church members but later included all white male property owners

B. Although not every community member could vote, town meetings were an important step toward democracy. 1. Thomas Jefferson called them “the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self- government and for its preservation.”

VI. Rights of Colonists A. King James II abolished colonial representative governments for while, but eventually were restored.

B. The colonists were proud of the rights they had as English citizens B. The colonists were proud of the rights they had as English citizens. These rights included: 1. Right to a fair trial by jury. 2. Right to be taxed by lawmakers elected by the people.

C. However, women could not vote, and neither could indentured servants, slaves, and Native Americans.