Lesson Seven: WHat Basic Ideas about Rights and Constitutional Government did Colonial Americans Have?

We The People

Lesson Seven: What Basic Ideas about Rights and Constitutional Government did Colonial Americans Have?

Terms To Know:

Constituents-he people represented by an elected official

Covenant-a binding agreement made by two or more persons

Established Religion-an official, state-sponsored religion

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut-adopted in 1639, this series of laws is the first written Constitution in America

Indentured Servants-voluntary servants who sold their labor for a period of four to seven years in exchange for passage to America; this was the most important form of servitude in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts-code abolished laws of primogeniture; provided for more humane treatment of criminals and debtors and simplified judicial process

Magistrate-a lower-level judicial officer, usually elected in an urban area, who handles traffic violations, minor criminal offenses, and civil suits involving small amounts of money

Massachusetts Body of Liberties-1641-a document that described the rights of citizens and the authority of public officials

Mayflower Compact-an agreement signed in 1620 by all adult males aboard the ship Mayflower, before landing in Plymouth, to form a body politic governed by majority rule

Primogeniture-the condition of being the first-born child; in law, it refers to the right of the eldest son to inherit all of his parent’s estate

Suffrage-the right to vote

Question & Answer:

1. What was the Mayflower Compact? Why was it drafted? How does it reflect to idea that government should be based on consent?

- It was basically agreement signed in 1620 by all adult males aboard the ship Mayflower, before landing in Plymouth, to form a body politic governed by majority rule. This reflect the idea that government should be based on consent because all the men on ship consented to this body of law.

2. How would you describe the economic, social, and political conditions of life in colonial America? How were these ideas important in the development of American ideas of government?

· Land was cheap and readily available, but labor was in shortage. This meant that Americans who had ambition could gain wealth more easily than their English counterparts. A majority of people realized moderate wealth and could gain 50 acres of land which guaranteed a right to vote. Also, there was no nobility or concept of primogeniture in America. This meant that there was greater equality among Americans and this concept became fundamental in the development of a US government.

3. What basic features of English constitutionalism were found in the governments of the colonies?

· I am just going to list and provide a little detail for this question because there are a LOT of borrowed ideas. Ready, set, go:

Ø Fundamental Rights- the colonist were concerned with the protection of their fundamental rights which can be traced back to the “rights of Englishmen” and then later by the natural rights philosophers as natural rights for all men to life, liberty, and property

Ø Rule of Law- colonists created a government to protect their fundamental rights; also included that those in power could not exercise arbitrary power and that English law was higher than any law created by the colonists

Ø Separation of Powers- to a greater extent than in British government, colonial governments provided for a separation of government in which the branches were more independent of each other:

§ Executive- responsible for carrying out and enforcing the law

§ Legislative-were responsible for making laws and would become the strongest branch

§ Judicial- had judges called magistrates who were responsible for handling trials and making sure that colonists were governed in a way that was consistent with the British tradition

Ø Checks and Balances-power was separated and in some cases shared among the branches (please refer to page 38 for a detailed list f the checks n each branch ( I don’t think you guys need these typed out for you)

Ø Representative government and the right to vote-the idea of representative government and voting were seen as important because they could reduce the possibility that members of government could violate their rights, respond to the people, and not be taxed without consent of representative

4. Why was the right to vote in the colonies limited to those who owned a certain amount of property? Why were colonial governments nevertheless more representative than the British government?

· The American colonists felt that they must protect property, and so they established a property requirement to vote even if it did limit suffrage. American government, however, was more representative because land was easily available, thus a larger proportion of colonial society enjoyed political rights, there were more elections in the colonies, there were choices of candidates, colonial legislators were elected more frequently, and colonial legislators came from districts that represented their constituents’ interest.

5. What examples can you identify of written guarantees of basic rights in colonial America? How were these written guarantees important in the development of Americans’ ideas about government?

· On example is the Massachusetts Body of Liberties, adopted in 1641, which secured the rule of law, protected basic rights, guarantees trial by jury, free elections, gave the right of free men to own property, made it illegal for government to take property away without fair compensation, prohibited forced self-incrimination, ad prohibited cruel and unusual punishment. In addition, Pennsylvania’s first constitution provided for freedom of conscience. Then came The Laws and Liberties which abolished the practice of primogeniture and provided for more humane treatment of convicted criminals and debtors. These written guarantees were important to the development of Americans’ ideas about government because they could take what they had learned form British constitutionalism and adopt it to fit their own needs. These specific pieces of legislation were important in creating ideas about government, protection of rights, separation of powers, limiting the power of government through checks and balances, becoming representative, and planting the seeds for and American Revolution.