Beginnings of an American Identity

1
Beginnings of an American Identity

• 5-2 Roots of Representative Government

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The Rights of Englishmen

• The Magna Carta

• 1st step toward guaranteeing rights
• Limited powers of the King
• Over time, rights originally granted only to
  nobles were extended to all Englishmen

3
Parliament and Colonial Government

• Most important right of Englishmen ?

• To elect representatives to Parliament
• Parliament
• Bicameral Legislature
• Elected
  House of Commons
• Appointed
  House of Lords

4
Parliament and Colonial Government

• Colonists used the same model

• Governor oversaw laws made by
• Bicameral Legislature
• Elected
  Colonial Assembly
• Appointed
  Governors Council

5
Parliament and Colonial Government

• The highest authority to govern the colonies was

PARLIAMENT
6
A Royal Governors Rule

• Still many colonists believed the King and
  Parliament had no right to rule them. Because

• Parliament had NO representatives from the
  Colonies
• So Who could rule the Colonies?
• Their own Colonial Assemblies

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A Royal Governors Rule

• To assert control over the colonies, King James
  II Created the Dominion of New England

• America was in Turmoil
• Smugglers were avoiding taxes established in the
  Navigation Acts
• King Philips War in New England
• Threat of the French in Canada
• Bacons Rebellion in Virginia

• Sir Edmund Andros, Governorthe Dominion of New
  England

8
Englands Glorious Revolution

• Parliament asserts control

• Removed Catholic James IIfrom throne

• Invited Protestant William and Mary to rule
  England

William IIIMary II
James II
9
Englands Glorious Revolution

• William and Mary forced to sign the English Bill
  of Rights

• Establishes principle thatGovernment was to
  be based on laws made by Parliament, not on
  the desires of a ruler!

10
Englands Glorious Revolution

• Meanwhile, back in the American colonies

• Colonists detest the Dominion!!
• They use the opportunity of Englands political
  turmoil to

• Arrest and jail Andros

• Dissolve the Dominion ofNew England
• Re-establish Colonial Assemblies

?
Sir Edmund Andros!
11
Shared Power in the Colonies

• Biggest power of Colonial Assemblies was that
  they paid the Governors salary
• Idea for the structure of colonial governments
  originated in the
• Magna Carta

12
Shared Power in the Colonies

• Because Governors salaries were controlled by
  Colonial Assemblies, they frequently chose not
  to enforce unpopular laws passed by Parliament.
  This is called
• Salutary Neglect
• As a result
• Colonists became used to acting on their own

13
The Zenger Trial
The question before theCourt and you,
Gentlemenof the Jury, is not of small nor
privateconcern nor is it the cause of a poor
printer,nor of New York alone.No, it may affect
every Freemanto deny the liberty of both
exposingand opposing arbitrary power byspeaking
and writing truth. - Andrew Hamilton, Zengers
attorney

• Newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger criticized
  New Yorks governor

• Accused him of removing a judge and
  fixing an election
• Jury decided the truth was a
  defense against libel and released
  Zenger
• Case helped to establish Freedom of the
  Press in America

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5-2 Roots of Representative Government

• El Fin