Colonialism in America

●The American colonies grew and flourished under British supervision. Like many adolescents, the colonies rebelled against their parent country by declaring independence.

●But the American democratic experiment did not begin in 1776. The COLONIES had been practicing limited forms of self-government since the early 1600s.

Colonialism in America

●The great expanse of the Atlantic Ocean created a safe distance for American colonists to develop skills to govern themselves.

●Despite its efforts to control American trade, England could not possibly oversee the entire American coastline. Colonial merchants soon learned to operate outside British law.

●Finally, those who escaped religious persecution in England demanded the freedom to worship according to their faiths.

Colonial Governments

●Each of the thirteen colonies had a charter, or written agreement between the colony and the king of England or Parliament.

●CHARTERS of royal colonies provided for direct rule by the king. A COLONIAL LEGISLATURE was elected by property holding males. But governors were appointed by the king and had almost complete authority — in theory.

●The legislatures controlled the salary of the governor and often used this influence to keep the governors in line with colonial wishes.

●The first colonial legislature was the Virginia House of Burgesses, established in 1619.

Trade and Taxation

●Colonial economies operated under MERCANTILISM, a system based on the belief that colonies existed in order to increase the mother country's wealth.

●England tried to regulate TRADE, and forbid colonies from TRADING with other European countries. England also maintained the right to tax the colonies.

●Both TRADE and TAXATION were difficult for England to control, and so an informal agreement emerged. England regulated TRADE but allowed colonists the right to levy their own taxes.

●SMUGGLERS soon exploited the English inability to guard every port by secretly trading against Parliament's wishes

Taxation & Revolution: Continue

●This delicate agreement was put to test by the FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. The war was expensive, and from the British point of view, colonists should help pay for it, especially considering that England believed it was protecting the colonists from French and Indian threats.

●The new taxes levied by Britain nevertheless horrified the colonists. British naval measures to arrest smugglers further incited American shippers. These actions served as stepping stones to the Revolution.

Religious Freedoms

●Religious freedom served as a major motivation for Europeans to move to the American colonies which increased religious diversity in the colonies.

●Many different faiths coexisted in the colonies. This variety required an insistence on freedom of religion since the earliest days of British settlement.

●So the colonial experience was one of absorbing British models of government, the economy, and religion.

●Over150 years, American colonists practiced these basic forms of self-government that eventually led to their decision to revolt against British rule.

●The democratic experiment of American self-rule was therefore not a sudden change brought about by the Declaration of Independence.  By 1776, Americans had plenty of practice.

The Declaration of Independence

●As tensions between Britain and the American colonies increased, a series of meetings were called, including that of the SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (1775-1776.)

●On July 4, 1776, the delegates approved the Declaration of Independence, the event that marks the birth of the United States.

●Thomas Jefferson, drafted the document primarily as a list of grievances against the King of England. His most important words, however, clearly shaped the philosophical basis of the new government.

The Declaration of Independence: Continue

● The famous introduction of the declaration of independence clearly reflected John Locke's SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY:

●*"...to secure these rights [Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."*

●Jefferson further reasoned that since the British government had abused these rights, the colonists had the right "to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government."