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

Terms and People (continued)

• 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

King Charles I Parliament

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.

The English Bill of Rights:

• restated many of the rights granted by the Magna Carta.

• upheld habeas corpus.

• required that Parliament meet regularly.

The legal rights that Englishmen had won over the centuries led the colonists to expect a voice in their government.

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.

Colonial Governors

Appointed by the King

Colonial Legislatures

Most were elected

Virginia and Massachusetts

Virginia 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.

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.

British and colonial governments were similar in some ways, but they had important differences.

Great Britain American Colonies

King GovernorInherited executive power Appointed by and served the king but

paid by the colonial legislature

Parliament Colonial Legislatures

House of LordsAristocrats with inherited titles also inherited legislative power

Upper House or CouncilAppointed by governorProminent colonists but without inherited titles

House of CommonsElected by men who held significant amounts of propertyLess than 1/4 of British men qualified to vote

Lower House or AssemblyElected by men who held propertyAbout 2/3 of colonial men qualified to vote

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:

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.

John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York Weekly Journal, was charged with libel for printing articles that criticized the governor.

Jurors found Zenger not guilty because the articles he published were based on facts.

FACTS

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.

Today, freedom of the press is recognized as a basic American liberty.

Freedom of

the Press

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.

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While colonists maintained some important rights, they felt burdened by Britain’s economic policies.

Pros and Cons of the Navigation Acts

Pros 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.