1. Roots of American Democracy
Our English Heritage

2. Define the following:
colony: a group of people in one place ruled by a parent country
legislative branch: makes the law
bicameral: 2 house legislature: Eng: House of Lords and House of Commons; US: House of Reps/Senate
executive branch: carries out the law; US-President/Eng-Prime Minister
judicial branch: interprets the laws
bill of rights: guarantees freedoms/legal
protection to citizens

3. Founding Documents
Magna Carta-1215 (Great Charter): weakened King John; guaranteed landowners certain rights-later given to all English citizens (trial by jury, protection of personal property)
English Bill of Rights-1689-clarify the relationship btw the King/Parliament; restricts kings power-free elections to P, eliminates cruel/usual punishments, royal judges’ ruling created common law.
Foundation of US Law:
a) Roman Law-Justinian Law-Napoleonic Code (LA)
b) English common law-law based on court decisions
-precedent-when judges decided a case they looked in the books for a similar case and followed the earlier ruling

4. Founding Philosophies
Enlightenment (promotion of reason/spread of knowledge) Thinkers
John Locke (pg. 34)-English writer ( )
-people were born free, equal, and independent
-Natural Rights: rights no govt could take away-life, liberty, property
-Social Contract: people give up some freedom to govt for protection of natural rights
Montesquieu (pg. 35)-French writer ( )
-separation of powers: divide different branches of govt to balance each other so that no one branch becomes too powerful and threatens indy rights

5. Establishment of Colonial Govt-Partners
Define: charter, compact
Rd The Magna Carta on pg
Rd The Mayflower Compact on pg. 769.
-Why was it created? Answer Ques #6 on pg. 37.

6. New England Colonies The Middle Colonies Southern Colonies
The English Colonies
New England Colonies
The Middle Colonies
Southern Colonies

7. Types of Colonies
Joint-Stock Company: colonies granted to private companies in the hopes of creating profits from colonization
Proprietary Colony: land granted to individuals for the purpose of creating colonies; the individuals had the right then to grant land to whomever they chose
Royal Colony: colonies headed by the English crown/government itself

8. The American Colonies
What did the English colonies look like at the end of the 17th century?
Write out and answer Questions 1 and 2 for the map on pg. 40.

9. New England Colonies
New England society was much more stable than other colonies:
New England Pilgrims/Puritans migrated to America as families
Marriage was easy as most people shared common values
Colonists lived longer due to more a dispersed population, purer water, & a cooler climate
New England towns regarded education as fundamental family responsibility; towns began to create elementary schools funded with local taxes:
NE had, by far, the highest literacy rate in America
In 1638, Harvard became America’s first college

10. Religion in NE
Since most New England colonies were founded on a belief that the colony existed through a ‘covenant’ with God, religion and state were often one and the same
Local town governments ensured the good order of Puritan society
Suffrage rights and political opportunities commonly depended on one’s membership in the local church

11. Triangular Trade
Though there were no plantation elite in New England, there did arise a powerful merchant class
The New England merchants profited from shipping manufactured rum, and other goods received from Southern colonies and the Indies, to Africa to be exchanged for slaves

12. Southern Colonies
“Normal, English” family life was impossible in Virginia:
70-85% of immigrants were young male indentured servants
High death rate (average age was years lower than NE)
One married spouse often died within a decade
Children often never knew their parents (let alone grandparents)
By 1680, social mobility in the Chesapeake was limited:
An American-born elite class had emerged (this social aristocracy was absent earlier)
The plantation economy & ownership of slaves allowed the gentry to produce more tobacco
High death rates halted the development of schools & towns

13. The Middle Colonies
The Middle Colonies were a mixture of Southern and New England societies
There were both large landowners and also wealthy merchants
There was broad religious diversity
Quakers, Catholics, Anglicans, Puritans, etc…
There were diverse ethnic backgrounds
English, Scots-Irish, Dutch, German, Swiss, etc…
Indentured Servants:
-Over half of settlers in the southern and middle colonies were indentured servants…
-someone whose passage to the colonies was paid for in turn for an agreement to be a source of labor for an agreed period of time (usually 5-7 years)

14. Slavery in Early Colonial America
The importation of African slaves was based on a “need” for labor:
NA decimated by disease
Indentured servant-pool waned after 1660
An estimated 11 million slaves (mostly males) were brought to the English American colonies
By 1720, the African population became self-sustaining
Slaves were originally treated as indentured servants but the growing black population in VA by 1672 prompted stricter slave laws:
Africans were defined as slaves for life; slave status was passed on to children
By 1700, slavery was based exclusively on skin color

15. Origins & Destinations of African Slaves, 1619-1760

16. The American Identity Freedom of Religion
Education-spurred by religious leaders so people could read the Bible
Family-the foundation of colonial society
Egalitarianism-the idea of equality; colonists believed they possessed the same rights as native English people-the problem?