1. Chapter Introduction
This chapter will introduce you to the beginnings of representative government in North America, as well as the ideas and lifestyles that shaped the founding of the United States.
Section 1: Governing the Colonies
Section 2: Colonial Society
Section 3: Slavery in the Colonies
Section 4: The Spread of New Ideas

2. Objectives
Explain how English political traditions influenced the 13 colonies.
Describe the responsibilities of early colonial governments.
Identify John Peter Zenger’s role in establishing freedom of the press.
Understand how the Navigation Acts affected the colonies’ economy.

3. legislature – a group of people who have the power to make laws
Terms and People
legislature – a group of people who have the power to make laws
bill of rights – a written list of freedoms that a government promises to protect
habeas corpus – the principle that a person cannot be held in prison without being charged with a specific crime
freedom of the press – the right of journalists to publish the truth without restriction or penalty
libel – the publishing of statements that damage a person’s reputation

4. How did English ideas about government and trade affect the colonies?
All English colonies shared a common English heritage, and that heritage included the idea that citizens had political rights.
England also promoted the theory of mercantilism—that colonies existed to benefit their parent country—but some colonists began to question that theory.

5. In 1215, English nobles forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, which was the first document to place restrictions on an English ruler’s power.
The rights listed in the Magna Carta were at first limited to nobles.
Over time, the rights were extended to all English citizens.

6. protected the right to property.
The Magna Carta:
limited the monarch’s right to levy taxes without consulting the nobles.
protected the right to property.
guaranteed the right to trial by jury.

7. Parliament Great Council
Under the Magna Carta, nobles formed a Great Council to advise the king, and this body developed into the Parliament.
Two-House Legislature
Parliament was a two-house legislature.
The House of Lords was made up of nobles who inherited their titles.
Members of the House of Commons were elected, but only a few rich men and landowners had the right to vote.
Taxes
Parliament’s greatest power was that no monarch could raise taxes without its consent.

8. In the 1640s, power struggles between King Charles I and Parliament led to the English Civil War.
Parliamentary forces eventually won the war, executed the king, and briefly ruled England.

9. In 1660, the monarchy was restored, but Parliament retained its traditional rights.
In 1688’s Glorious Revolution, Parliament removed King James II from the throne and invited his daughter Mary and her husband William to rule.
A condition of their rule, however, was that they sign the English Bill of Rights.

10. The English Bill of Rights:
restated many of the rights granted by the Magna Carta.
upheld habeas corpus. (a writ requiring a person to be brought before a judge or court, especially for investigation of a restraint of the person's liberty)
required that Parliament meet regularly.

11. Colonial Legislatures
The legal rights that Englishmen had won over the centuries led the colonists to expect a voice in their government.
Colonial Governors
Appointed by the King
Colonial Legislatures
Most were elected
By 1760, every British colony in North America had a legislature of some kind, although the legislatures sometimes clashed with the colonial governors appointed by the king.

12. Virginia and Massachusetts
From 1619, the House of Burgesses—the first legislature in British North America—made laws for the Jamestown Colony.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts set up a legislature called the General Court in 1629.
In 1634, Massachusetts colonists gained the right to elect delegates to the General Court.

13. only the General Assembly—not Penn or his council— could make laws.
The British government gave William Penn outright ownership of Pennsylvania.
But in 1701, the colonists forced Penn to agree that:
only the General Assembly—not Penn or his council— could make laws.
only the king could overturn laws passed by the General Assembly.

14. Colonial Legislatures
British and colonial governments were similar in some ways, but they had important differences.
Great Britain
American Colonies
King
Governor
Inherited executive power
Appointed by and served the king but paid by the colonial legislature
Parliament
Colonial Legislatures
House of Lords
Aristocrats with inherited titles also inherited legislative power
Upper House or Council
Appointed by governor
Prominent colonists but without inherited titles
House of Commons
Elected by men who held significant amounts of property
Less than 1/4 of British men qualified to vote
Lower House or Assembly
Elected by men who held property
About 2/3 of colonial men qualified to vote

15. In the colonies, 50 to 75 percent of white men could vote, which was a far greater percentage than in England.
English women, even those who owned property.
Native Americans.
Africans, whether free or enslaved.
But the following groups could not vote:

16. Another important right for American colonists was the freedom of the press.
In England, writers who criticized the government were punished, even if what they said was true.
However, a trial in the colonies granted writers new freedom to publish the truth.

17. John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York Weekly Journal, was charged with libel (a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation) for printing articles that criticized the governor.
FACTS
Jurors found Zenger not guilty because the articles he published were based on facts.

18. The Zenger case helped establish the principle that a democracy depends on well-informed citizens.
Therefore, the press has a right and a responsibility to keep the public informed of the truth.
Freedom of the Press
Today, freedom of the press is recognized as a basic American liberty.

19. While colonists maintained some important rights, they felt burdened by Britain’s economic policies.
Under the theory of mercantilism, colonies existed in order to enrich their parent country. $
In 1651, the English Parliament passed the first of several Navigation Acts, laws designed to funnel the colonies’ wealth to England.

20. Pros and Cons of the Navigation Acts
Colonial traders had a sure market for their goods in England.
The law contributed to a booming shipbuilding industry in New England.
Cons
Many colonists began to resent the Acts because they thought the Acts favored English merchants at the colonists’ expense.
Some colonists thought they could make more money if they were free to sell to foreign markets themselves.
Some colonists smuggled goods to foreign markets to avoid the Navigation Acts.

21. Chapter 4 Section 2

22. Terms and People
extended family – a family that includes, in addition to the parents and their children, other members such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins
apprentice – someone who learns a trade by working for someone in that trade for a certain period of time
gentry – the upper class of colonial society
middle class – in colonial society, a class made up of small planters, independent farmers, and artisans
indentured servant – someone 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

23. What were the characteristics of colonial society?
People in England’s colonies had a heritage of political rights and other shared characteristics that created a unifying culture among the colonists.
Some of those shared characteristics were an emphasis on family, hard work, and clearly defined gender roles.

24. In colonial America, many people lived with their extended families
Most colonists lived on farms, where having a large family was an advantage because many people were needed to do all the work.
Most farms were isolated, so it was important for families to work well together.

25. In farmhouses, which were made of wood and had few rooms, people used planks or mattresses of corncobs for beds.
In the New England and Middle colonies, winters were cold, and often the only source of heat was a fireplace in the kitchen.

26. In Puritan New England, single men and women were expected to live with a family as a servant or a boarder.
Many single people gathered in the colonies’ cities and towns, where it was easier for them to live.

27. In the colonies, men and women generally took on different roles.
If men were not farmers, they worked as carpenters, coopers, butchers, wheelwrights, or in other trades.
A husband and father was the leader of his family, and he controlled his family’s income and property.

28. The lives of colonial women were different from the lives of American women today.

29. A colonial woman often bore her husband many children, and childcare took up much of her time.
Her other domestic responsibilities included cooking, laundry, making cloth and sewing clothes, gardening, tending animals, and preserving food.

30. Other Roles of Women On Farms
A woman might help plow, pitch hay, or do other chores, especially if she lived on the western frontier.
In Towns
A woman might keep a shop or an inn or work as a baker, a printer, or even an undertaker.
In Public Life
Because they could not vote or hold office, women had little or no role in public life.
But on the western and southern frontiers, once in a while women participated in government in an advisory capacity.

31. If they survived infancy, colonial children had seven years before they were required to work.
Children often played games such as hopscotch and jump rope, and they played with toys such as homemade dolls and tops.

32. By the age of seven, most children did household or farm chores, or, if they were poor, they might become servants in other families.
When they got older, boys learned how to farm from their fathers, while girls learned how to keep house from their mothers.
Boys who were learning trades began as apprentices and then worked independently.

33. In Europe, land was the main measure of wealth, but only a small number of people owned it.
America had land in abundance, and many European colonists moved there because they hoped to own land of their own.

34. In Europe, there was not much movement among social and economic classes.
But in colonial America, there was more social equality among settlers—at least among white settlers.
Still, there were many class distinctions.

35. The Gentry Size of Group
The gentry were few in number, but they were the most powerful people.
Occupations
The gentry included wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, royal officers, successful lawyers and, often, prosperous artisans.
Lifestyle
People in this group often had luxurious homes filled with expensive furniture.
Public Office
Because many official jobs paid no salary, few but the gentry could afford to hold office.

36. The Middle Class Size of Group
The great majority of European colonists were middle class and were neither rich nor poor.
Occupations
Men in the middle class were small planters, independent farmers, and artisans.
Ethnicities
The middle class was mostly white, but some of its members were of African descent.
Public Office
Middle-class men could vote, and a few held public office.

37. The growth of the middle class gave the poor something to hope for and work for.
In this way, the colonies were different from England and the rest of Europe.
In America, people could acquire property and move up the social scale.

38. Indentured Servants Countries of Origin
In the 1600s, most indentured servants came from England.
In the 1700s, a growing number came from Ireland and Germany.
Status
Indentured servants and farmhands were just above enslaved Africans on America’s social scale.
Rights
Indentured servants were bound to obey their masters, and they had few, if any, rights.
Those who disobeyed could be whipped, or time might be added to their service.

39. At the end of a term, an indentured servant received clothes, tools, and 50 acres of land.
About 1 indentured servant in 10 became a prosperous landowner, and another 1 in 10 became an artisan. v v
The others either returned to their country of origin or joined a class of landless, poor whites.

40. In 1763 almost half of the colonial population came from Africa, but very few African Americans were free.
During the first census in 1790, there were 60,000 free people of African ancestry and 757,000 enslaved people of African ancestry in the colonies.

41. Even in the South, free African Americans were allowed to own property, and they also could become slaveholders.
Some free blacks purchased enslaved relatives and set them free.
But most African American property owners were not allowed to vote or sit on juries.