Roots of American Democracy

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Roots of American Democracy
2
English Heritage

• 1215 Nobles (citizens who had been granted land
  and paid taxes to support John) Rebelled
• Forced King John to sign the Magna Carta (Great
  Charter) which listed the limits of the Kings
  power and gave nobles certain rights
• 1st Major restriction of kings power!

3
English Heritage

• Henry III followed John on the throne and develop
  1st Parliament (group of nobles and church
  officials) that he parlered (talked with).
• THEY GREW VERY POWERFUL!
• Late 1300s Parliament becomes Legislature
  (group that makes laws)
• Met regularly
• This Parliament split into two houses
• Upper House of Lords
• Lower House of Commons
• Both shared power
• King become figurehead

4
Glorious Revolution

• 1688 King James II was removed from the throne
  and power was given to William and Mary
• Government now in the hands of Parliament

5
1689 English Bill of Rights

• Only parliament makes laws
• Parliament can raises taxes
• Parliament controls the army
• System of elections established

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2 Major Documents now shape English government

• Magna Carta

• English Bill of Rights

NO WRITTEN CONSTITUTION!
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• England followed common law if enough people
  follow a law or principle, then it exists
• Law becomes based on precedent (ruling of earlier
  case)
• Today, much of our government is based on Common
  Law

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English Heritage Developed

• Ruler of country is not above the law
• People should have say in government
• People should have the basic rights protected by
  government
• Would eventually effect the development of the
  English colonies

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The Colonial Experience Jamestown and Plymouth
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The Colonial Experience Jamestown and Plymouth

• 1600s 1700s Great Britian follows
  Mercantilism
• Theory that a nation should SELL MORE GOODS THAN
  IT BUYS
• Resources, Materials of the American colonies
  gave Great Britain positive balance of trade
• Cotton, tobacco, wood, sugar, etc.

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Colony group of people in one place who are
ruled by government in another place.

• 1607 Jamestown 1st permanent English
  settlement
• A British adventurer named John Smith, along with
  the Virginia Company, founded the colony.
• Jamestown was known as a joint-stock company, as
  many investors jointly owned stock in the company
  and hoped to make a profit off the eventual
  business of the colonies

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Problems of Jamestown First five years known as
the Starving Time

• Disease abundant due to contaminated water
• Many lazy settlers refused to plant crops this
  led to widespread hunger and stealing of food
• Many had to eat rats, roots, snakes, and boiled
  shoe leather to survive

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Starving Time

• After the winter of 1607, a colony that started
  with 104 people, had been decimated to only 38
  colonists
• Powhattan natives had seen them through the
  winter
• Smith left the colony in winter, abandoning it

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A Flourishing Colony

• After several skirmishes with the quickly
  impatient Powhattans over territory, the colony
  began to adapt and expand into surrounding areas.
• Colonist John Rolfe discovered a new strain of
  tobacco and within a decade would be exporting
  more than 1.5 million pounds annually
• To work the plantations, many owners imported
  indentured servants from Englands lower class.
• They would work 4-7 years of labor for passage,
  food, shelter.
• This would set up for the importing of slaves
  from Africa.

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Clashing With Natives

• The English had no desire to live WITH the Native
  Americans.
• By 1622, Chief Opechancanough, impatient with the
  English, attacked Jamestown, killing 340 people
• Future skirmishes would prove costly (in lives
  and money), so James I of England revoked the
  Virginia Company charter, and created a royal
  colony, which would be under direct control of
  the king.

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The House of Burgesses

• 1619 2 colonists of each plantation (or
  burgess) met with the Jamestown Governor
• The Virginia House of Burgesses became the first
  legislature in North America
• This legislature set a precedent of governing the
  colonies with both a governor (king appointed)
  and a legislature (elected or appointed).
• This would later influence the creation of
  governments for the first states.

17
Bacons Rebellion

• By the 1670s many indentured servants were free,
  but had no money for land.
• These former servants (farmers) were taxed
  heavily with few benefits to pay for Indian Wars.
• In 1676, a clash arose between settlers and
  natives, but royal colonial governor Sir William
  Berkley refused to send money and supplies to
  help nearby colonists fight.
• Farmer Nathanial Bacon (a cousin of Berkley by
  marriage) formed an army and marched on
  Jamestown.
• Bacons army set fire to Jamestown forcing
  Berkley to flee.
• Bacon was briefly in control, but died a month
  later of illness, and Berkley returned
• Good Relations once again established and
  indentured servitude ended.

18
Was this the beginning of the necessity for
slavery?

• Was the uprising the first seeds of discontent
  with colonists against British rule?

19
Plymouth Colony and the Puritans

• The English Reformation broke England away from
  the Catholic Church in the 1530s (Henry VIII
  broke away and created the Church of England or
  Anglican Church)
• Some people wanted to purify the Anglican
  Church and all traces of Catholicism (and were
  thus called Puritans) and immigrated to America
  to escape religious persecution.
• Those that wanted to completely separate from the
  Anglican church were called Separatists and
  eventually Pilgrims.
• They sailed a ship called the Mayflower over to
  America (hoping to reach Virginia) and landed at
  Massachusetts.
• Before disembarking, they all (or nearly all)
  signed an agreement called

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The Mayflower Compact

• The Pilgrims had a plan for government 41
  passengers signed the Mayflower Compact
  (agreement) saying that
• The new government would have equal laws
• Colonists would obey all laws
• New government would be a DIRECT DEMOCRACY

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Plymouth, Massachusetts

• Like Jamestown 13 years before it, Plymouth had a
  hard time surviving the first winter.
• Miles Standish served as commander of the
  military, and general leader and helped them
  fight through it
• Half the colonists died that winter
• Yet, the colonists were not profit driven as
  Jamestown was, so she was able to survive.
• The Pilgrims wanted to set up an ideal, moral
  society, and would not allow for other religions
  (besides Anglican) to exist

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Massachusetts Bay

• Further south, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was
  established in 1630.
• More Puritans but not of a separatist mindset
• Governor John Winthrop wanted to create a City
  Upon a Hill (Boston) to be an example for others
  to follow.
• However it, like Plymouth, did not allow
  religious freedom, and Separatists like Roger
  Williams and Thomas Hooker would speak out and be
  banished, which led them to create other colonies
  
• (Providence, Rhode Island and Connecticut)

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The first colonies in Massachusetts and Virginia,
helped to establish important precedents

• A governor AND a legislature (self or king
  appointed)
• Self-Governing mentality (little to no help from
  the crown)
• Pragmatism and efficiency (forming American
  Identity)