Chapter 2 Section 1 “Roots of American Democracy” Mr. Olerta 9 th Grade Civics

What influenced Colonial Government? Many rights that Americans enjoy today started from ideas discussed in the Enlightenment. In 1215 English Nobles revolted against the king and made him sign the Magna Carta. – Gave rights to English land owners, and lowered the monarchs power

Citizenship by Birth By the 1300’s a legislature name Parliament had formed In 1688 Parliament removed king James II from the throne thus demonstrating Parliament is now stronger then the monarch In 1689 Parliament made the English Bill of Rights, further weakening the kings power

Enlightenment Philosophical Influences John Locke – Believed in Natural Rights “The right to life, liberty, and property that no government could take away Believed in the Social Contract – An agreement among the people in a society, they agree to give up some freedom to a government in exchange for protection of natural rights

Enlightenment Philosophical Influences Cont. Baron de Montesquieu developed developed the idea about dividing the branches of government

Colonial Traditions of Self- Government Jamestown VA – Was a joint stock company – It provided investors partial ownership and a share in future profits King James also gave a charter to the merchants which is a written document granting land and authority to set up colonial government In 1619, however the colonists formed the House of Burgesses, which became the first representative assembly in the English Colonies

The Mayflower Compact Plymouth Colonists landed in America and realized they needed to create rules to govern themselves The 41 men aboard the ship signed the Mayflower Compact – A compact is an agreement, or contract, among a group of people

Mayflower Compact Cont. The mayflower compact established a tradition of direct democracy Held town Meetings in which anyone could attend, but only men who were granted land could vote.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut After being Persecuted for their religious beliefs, many pilgrims left for what is now Connecticut. They developed Americas first written constitution – The fundamental Orders of Connecticut. – This document had an assembly of elected representatives from each town to make laws

Section 2. The English Colonies By 1733, there were thirteen colonies along the eastern seaboard under English control. The colonies are split up into three different sections.

New England Colonies Consist of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut. Nine years after the pilgrims arrived, investors sent a royal charter to start a colony north of Plymouth By the mid 1600’s many people who were tired of a crowded Boston had expanded to the surrounding colonies

New England Colonies Cont. Long winters and infertile soil makes large scale farming extremely difficult More of a small business type workplace for colonists Some examples of small businesses are blacksmiths, shoemakers, or shopkeepers

New England Colonies Cont Shipbuilding was an important industry The vast amount of forests provided wood for boats With more boats, more people go fishing or whaling Due to the puritan religion in Early New England emphasized hard work, this is called puritan ethic

Middle Colonies Consists of Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York New York was a proprietary colony which means that the owner of the land controlled the government New Jersey became a proprietary colony when it was given to two men after being a part of New York But in 1702 New Jersey became a Royal colony or one owned and ruled directly by the king

Middle Colonies Cont Pennsylvania was a proprietary company when given to William Penn Penn saw his colony, as a place to put his Quaker ideals of peace, equality, and justice to work. In Contrast to New England, the soil and climate in the middle colonies was more suited for agriculture

Middle Colonies Cont Industries were able to take advantage of the abundant natural resources Ironworks became important due to the immigrants from European countries

Southern Colonies Consisted of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland Southern colonies like Georgia were the first defense in Spanish attack People in debt could get a fresh start in the southern colonies with all of the farming Tobacco flourished on The east coast of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina

Southern Colonies Cont. Rice and Indigo was also found on the coast of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina The regions rivers made it very easy to transport all of the crops grown Lots of big plantations where seen and needed many people to take care of the crop growing

The American Identity

Religion Desire of religious freedom is the reason many settlers first came to America In colonies like Massachusetts, religious leaders were also government leaders However in other colonies religion became separate from government In Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, toleration of other religions drew settlers of many different faiths

Education Religious feeling, lead to the foundation of America’s first colleges and schools Colleges such has Harvard, Princeton, and William & Mary These schools were created for the purpose of training ministers Schools were created so that people could read and understand the bible Slaves were not aloud to be taught to read or write

Family Life Men were formal heads of the family Wives looked after children and did house work Occasionally women held jobs outside of homes Many older sons worked as apprentices Women still could not vote

Ideas About Government Despite inequalities, enlightenment reinforced thoughts of natural rights The Theory of egalitarianism or equality was formed. One element of this was the belief of many colonists that they possessed all of the traditional rights of native English people By 1733 all thirteen English colonies had been established with its own constitution

Growing Discontent By the mid 1700s many Americans felt they did not possess the rights of English Citizens Colonists accepted John Locke’s idea that government derives its power from the consent of the people. But British government was unresponsive and this upset the colonies It would lead to one idea………INDEPENDENCE!

Britain Frustrates the Colonies In 1754 the colonies debated on creating a federal union (but it was rejected) Britain had fought in the French and Indian War from Not wanting to frustrate the Native Americans, they told the colonists they could not move west of the Appalachians

Frustrated Colonies Cont. Britain needed money so they passed the stamp act The Stamp act was an expensive tax on all newspapers and documents Next they past the quartering act which made the colonists house troops

Frustrated Colonies Cont. Colonies boycotted the tax and lead the British to repeal the stamp tax Only problem is the next day, parliament passed a law that said they have the right to tax the colonies whenever they wanted This lead to the tea Tax of 1773 BOSTON TEA PARTY!!!!!

Moving towards Independence In 1774, twelve colonies sent delegates to Philadelphia to discuss their concerns about British Control Georgia did not send a representative

First Continental congress The first meeting lasted 7 weeks Sent a letter to King George III stating that they want the rights to be restored Continued the Boycott of British Goods They said that they would meet in a year if the demands were not met

Britain's Response King George responded in force April 1775 the first two battles of the Revolutionary war took place – Lexington and Concord – Massachussetts

Second Continental Congress May 1775, colonial leaders met again They spent many months deciding the best course of action In January 1776, many colonists had been supporting independence, and Thomas Paine wrote his pamphlet called common sense This pamphlet caused many colonists to agree about splitting off from Britian

1776 The Congress started acting as the government to the colonies. They asked Thomas Jefferson to write a document that announced their freedom Doing most of the work, Thomas Jefferson had created a draft that declared why the United States should be a free nation

Declaration of Independence The declaration argues that British government does not look after the interests of colonists The authors included a long list of abuses by King George III The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence is set forth for the colonists, and it describes their natural rights

Declaration Contd. The Declaration of Independence also discusses the purpose of government to protect the rights of the people Also it states people can change a government if it disregards their rights Enlightenment ideas are seen throughout the Declaration of Independence The United States was officially its own nation