Origins of the American Revolution

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Origins of the American Revolution

• US History Spiconardi

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Influences on the American Government

• Ancient Greece (Athens)
• Democracy ? rule by the people
• Ancient Rome
• Republic ?voters elect representatives who speak
  and act for the people in government

• Magna Carta
• Placed limits on the kings power to rule
• English Bill of Rights
• Established the precedent that representative
  government the rule of law outweighed the
  monarchs power

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Influences on the American Government

• The Enlightenment Thinkers
• John Locke
• ?Right to life, liberty, and property
• Baron de Montesquieu
• ?separation of powers checks and balances
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• ?Social Contract government needs the consent
  of the governed

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Colonial Assemblies Government

• New England
• Town Meetings ?allowed citizens to govern
  themselves through direct democracy

• House of Burgesses
• First representative lawmaking body established
  in the colonies (Virginia 1619)

Self-Government
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The Colonial Experience Salutary Neglect
Mercantilism

• Salutary Neglect
• Colonies left alone by England to deal with local
  matters
• Parliamentary laws that were meant to keep the
  colonies subservient were not enforced

• Mercantilism
• Policy in which country exports more than it
  imports
• Colonies exist to provide raw materials and
  markets for the economic benefit of the mother
  country

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Mercantilism in English Colonies
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Practice Questions

• The individual can be free only when the power
  of one government branch is balanced by the other
  two.
• Baron de Montesquieu
• The idea expressed in this quotation is best
  illustrated by which aspect of the United States
  government?
• Existence of a Cabinet
• Separation of powers
• Elastic clause
• Executive privilege

• In the colonial era, developments such as the New
  England town meetings and the establishment of
  the Virginia House of Burgesses represented
• Colonial attempts to build a strong national
  government
• Efforts by the British to strengthen control over
  the colonies
• Steps in the growth of representative democracy
• Early social reform movements