Democratic Practices

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Democratic Practices

• The Beginning of Democracy in Colonial America

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I. The Beginning of Self-Government

• A. In 1619, the Virginia Company sent a governor
  to Jamestown to rule the colony.

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• B. The colonists were also given a voice in
  running the colonys government.
• 1. Thus, the first form of representative
  government began in the English colonies.

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• C. Adult freemen could elect representatives, or
  burgesses, to a lawmaking body, the House of
  Burgesses.
• 1. Could make laws to govern the colony, but the
  governor could refuse to approve them

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II. The Mayflower Compact

• A. The Pilgrims were granted a charter to set up
  a colony in Virginia.
• 1. However, they landed in Massachusetts, so they
  were outside the area of their charter and its
  laws.

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• 2. To establish some kind of law and discipline,
  Pilgrim leaders decided that they must make an
  agreement before they went ashore.
• B. The 41 men aboard signed a document setting up
  a form of self-government and agreeing to obey
  laws passed by the majority.

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• C. This agreement became known as the Mayflower
  Compact.

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III. The General Court

• A. The Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
  created the General Court, which made the laws.

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• B. At first, it only included Puritans, but later
  included all adult freemen, as long as they were
  members of the church.

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• C. The General Courts laws represented the
  Puritan way of thinking
• 1. everyone had to attend long Sunday church
  services.
• 2. Dancing and games were strictly forbidden.

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IV. Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

• A. Thomas Hooker and other town leaders created
  the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.

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• 1. This document was the first American
  constitution, or plan of government to be
  written.
• 2. It provided for an assembly and an elected
  governor.
• 3. Under this constitution, all men who owned
  property could vote.

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V. Town Meetings

• A. In New England communities, at the yearly town
  meeting, all the free men of the town discussed
  issues.
• 1. Town meetings were limited at first to land
  owning church members but later included all
  white male property owners

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• B. Although not every community member could
  vote, town meetings were an important step toward
  democracy.
• 1. Thomas Jefferson called them the wisest
  invention ever devised by the wit of man for the
  perfect exercise of self-government and for its
  preservation.

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VI. Rights of Colonists

• A. King James II abolished colonial
  representative governments for while, but
  eventually were restored.

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• B. The colonists were proud of the rights they
  had as English citizens. These rights included
• 1. Right to a fair trial by jury.
• 2. Right to be taxed by lawmakers elected by the
  people.

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• C. However, women could not vote, and neither
  could indentured servants, slaves, and Native
  Americans.