1. Origins and Development of Colonial Governments
The Colonial Period
Social Studies Survey

2. Essential Question
What elements of the English political heritage helped develop representative government in the American colonies?

3. I CAN: Explain why the colonists expected representative government
Analyze early British documents that helped to set up our Declaration of Independence and Constitution
Describe the government of early colonial America

4. Magna Carta Text Activity
Students will use a copy of the Magna Carta to read through and highlight/underline importance phrases that they have heard used before (from Declaration, Constitution, etc.)

5. An English Political Heritage
The English established the thirteen colonies
English system had two major principles:
Limited Government
Representative Government

6. Limited Government
System in which the power of the government is limited, not absolute

7. Magna Carta Video
2:34 min

8. Magna Carta (1215)
Also known as Great Charter
First appears in Magna Carta (1215) and only to nobility at the start

9. Petition of Rights (1628) Severely limited King Charles 1 power
No longer collect taxes, imprison people without just cause, house troops in private homes or declare martial law without war

10. English Bill of Rights (1688)
Set clear limits on what a ruler could and could not do
Set up 5 key ideas:

11. English Bill of Rights
Monarchs do not have absolute authority
Monarch must have Parliaments consent to suspend laws, levy taxes, or maintain army
Monarch cannot interfere with parliamentary elections and debates
People have right to fair and speedy trial
No cruel and unusual punishment

12. Representative Government
Government in which people elect delegates to make laws and conduct government

13. John Locke John Locke- Two Treatises of Government
Argued that if government failed to protect these natural rights, the people could change that government (social contract theory)

14. Government in the Colonies
Each English colony had its own governor, a legislature, and a court system
Each had:
A written constitution
Legislatures of elected representatives
Separation of powers between governors and legislature

15. Mayflower Compact Video
Start at 8:15

16. First example of colonial self- government
Mayflower Compact (1620
First example of colonial self- government

17. Mayflower Compact Videos
4:25 min (ok)
Creation of the mayflower Compact (3:57)

18. Mayflower Compact

19. First basic system of laws in the colonies
Great Fundamentals (1636)
First basic system of laws in the colonies

20. Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
First formal constitution or charter in the colonies
All men have the right to vote in the colony

21. Fundamental Preamble
For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God by the wise disposition of his divine providence so to order and dispose of things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield are now cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River of Connectecotte and the lands thereunto adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent Government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require; do therefore associate and conjoin ourselves to be as one Public State or Commonwealth; and do for ourselves and our successors and such as shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter, enter into Combination and Confederation together, to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess, as also, the discipline of the Churches, which according to the truth of the said Gospel is now practiced amongst us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed according to such Laws, Rules, Orders and Decrees as shall be made, ordered, and decreed as followeth

22. Colonial Legislature
First legislature in America: Virginia House of Burgesses
Many colonies had legislature well before the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were put into place
Voting had property qualifications, but land was abundant and affordable

23. Separation of Powers
The division of power among the legislative, judicial, and executive branches