Life in the Colonies

Governing the Colonies: English Parliamentary Tradition In 1215, English nobles got together and forced King John to sign the Magna Carta The Magna Carta is the first document to put restrictions on the powers of the English ruler Limited the monarch’s right to levy taxes without permission Protected private property Guaranteed trial by jury These rights soon extended to English citizens

Parliament A parliament is a two-house legislature, or a group of people who make laws Consisted of the House of Lords and the House of Commons The House of Commons was elected Parliament had the “power of the purse”

English Bill of Rights Parliament levied, or imposed, taxes The king couldn’t raise a standing army Election of Parliament was free Freedom of Speech and debates in Parliament The right of habeas corpus The idea that a person cannot be held in prison without being charged with a crime

Colonial Self Government Each English colony in America had a colonial governor who was appointed by the king They also did have their own legislative body These colonial legislatures and the colonial governors would often class The only people who could vote at this time are white males who owned property

Freedom of the Press The right of journalists to publish the truth without restriction or penalty John Peter Zenger printed articles that were critical of the government He was arrested for libel He argued that what he printed were facts and not considered libel The Zenger case established that a democracy depends on a well-informed citizen To have this, the press needs to be able to print the truth

Regulating Trade What is mercantilism? Parliament passed the Navigation Acts Shipments from Europe to English colonies had to go through England first All imports from the colonies to England had to come in on English built ships The colonies could sell key products like sugar and tobacco only to England The Acts first helped the colonies, but they quickly began to resent them Why?

Colonial Society

Roles of Women Women would marry men who were chosen by their parents Everything that belonged to the woman now belonged to her husband Women were in charge of childcare and all domestic duties Cooking, cleaning, laundry, spinning yarn, sewing, working on the farm Women had little to no role in public life They could not vote or hold office

Social Classes Gentry: Upper class people in colonial society They were few in number, but the most powerful people in society

Social Class cont. Middle class: Indentured Servants Made up of small planters, independent farmers, and artisans Indentured Servants People who signed a contract to work from 4 to 10 years in the colonies for anyone who would pay for his or her ocean passage to the Americas Indentured servants had few if any rights Free African Americans Only about 1 percent of African Americans in the colonies were free Some even owned their own slaves

Spreading of New Ideas

Education The first schools in America were started by the local church Massachusetts was the first colony to have public schools Puritans financed Harvard College, which was the first college in the colonies

Great Awakening During the 1730s and 1740s, there was a huge Christian movement throughout the colonies This led to people becoming even more religious and many new churches were started Read Jonathan Edwards, pg 121 The growth of these new churches eventually did lead to a better religious tolerance between them

The Enlightment A new intellectual movement in Europe that focused on “natural laws” John Locke: He believed that all people have certain natural rights, or rights that everyone has from birth Life, liberty, and property These cannot be taken away He challenged the idea of divine rights, or the idea that monarchs get their power to rule from God Governments were created to protect these rights

Divine Rights vs. Natural Rights The right to govern comes from God to the ruler People’s rights come from the ruler People must obey ruler, even if the ruler violates people’s rights The right to govern comes from the people People’s rights come from God to the people The people can change the government if the government violates their rights

Montesquieu He came up with the idea of a separation of powers in government The power of the government is divided up into separate branches This protects the rights of the people by making sure not one branch gets too powerful Three Branches: Legislative – Makes the laws Executive – enforces the laws Judicial – make judgments based on the laws and interprets the laws