Governing the Colonies

1
Governing the Colonies

• Generally speaking, English colonists in North
  America were not granted the same level of rights
  as those who remained in England.
• In exchange for the small amount of freedom
  granted to colonists as the settled in the New
  World, they were expected to surrender some of
  the guarantees or rights they enjoyed in England.

2
Governing the Colonies

• The history of rights in England goes back to the
  year 1217. At that time, England was ruled by a
  cruel and abusive King John.
• John was widely hated. During his reign the
  nobles rose up in rebellion and he was captured.
  In exchange for granting the government and his
  life back to him he was forced to sign the
  Magna Carta, or great charter.

3
Governing the Colonies

• The Magna Carta was a document that provided the
  nobles rights, or protections, that the king
  could not remove.
• This was the first time in English history that
  law had been established that was superior to the
  king.
• The Magna Carta is critical in the history of the
  Western World because it set the stage for the
  idea that law could rule over the mandates of a
  monarch.

4
Governing the Colonies

• England continued as a monarchy after the rule of
  John ended. However, the power of the monarchs
  began a steady decline after about 1600.
• After the reign of King James, Englands new
  king, Charles, began a civil war against the
  nations lawmaking body, Parilament.
• As a result of his attacks on Parliament, and as
  a result of some political intrigue, Charles was
  executed in 1649.

5
Governing the Colonies

• Political turmoil followed in the years after the
  execution of Charles I.
• In the process, Parliament became the most
  powerful lawmaking body in England. This was an
  important shift because previously decisions
  about law and rights had been under the very
  strong control of the king.
• At this point England developed a Bill of Rights
  that drew heavily from the ideas in the Magna
  Carta.

6
Governing the Colonies

• Under the English Bill of Rights certain freedoms
  were extended to all the people not just the
  nobles as had been the case under the Magna
  Carta.
• It was within this atmosphere of expanding rights
  that English colonies in North America began to
  grow and flourish.
• Early settlers from England brought these ideas
  of rights under a Parliamentary system with them
  to North America.

7
Governing the Colonies

• This set the stage for a conflict between the
  colonists expectations and the ways in which
  they were actually treated by England.