Still, the colonies considered Calverts in Maryland, William Penn
themselves chiefly as common- in Pennsylvania, the proprietors in
wealths or states, much like England North and South Carolina, and the
itself, having only a loose association proprietors in New Jersey specified
with the authorities in London . In that legislation should be enacted
one way or another, exclusive rule with “the consent of the freemen .”
from the outside withered away . The
In New England, for many years,
colonists — inheritors of the long there was even more complete self-
English tradition of the struggle government than in the other col-
for political liberty — incorporated onies . Aboard the Mayflower, the concepts of freedom into Virginia’s Pilgrims adopted an instrument for
first charter . It provided that Eng- government cal ed the “Mayflower
lish colonists were to exercise all Compact,” to “combine ourselves to-
liberties, franchises, and immuni- gether into a civil body politic for our
ties “as if they had been abiding and better ordering and preservation . .
born within this our Realm of Eng- and by virtue hereof [to] enact, con-
land .” They were, then, to enjoy the stitute, and frame such just and equal
benefits of the Magna Carta — the laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions,
charter of English political and civ- and offices . . as shall be thought most il liberties granted by King John in meet and convenient for the general
1215 — and the common law — the good of the colony . . . .”
English system of law based on legal
Although there was no legal basis
precedents or tradition, not statutory for the Pilgrims to establish a system law . In 1618 the Virginia Company of self-government, the action was
issued instructions to its appointed not contested, and, under the com-
governor providing that free inhab- pact, the Plymouth settlers were able
itants of the plantations should elect for many years to conduct their own
representatives to join with the gov- affairs without outside interference .
ernor and an appointive council in
A similar situation developed in
passing ordinances for the welfare of the Massachusetts Bay Company,
the colony .
which had been given the right to
These measures proved to be govern itself . Thus, full authority
some of the most far-reaching in the rested in the hands of persons re-
entire colonial period . From then siding in the colony . At first, the
on, it was generally accepted that the dozen or so original members of the
colonists had a right to participate in company who had come to America
their own government . In most in- attempted to rule autocratically . But
stances, the king, in making future the other colonists soon demanded
grants, provided in the charter that a voice in public affairs and indi-
the free men of the colony should cated that refusal would lead to a
have a voice in legislation affecting mass migration .
them . Thus, charters awarded to the
The company members yield-
30
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
ed, and control of the government the settlers had come to a land of
passed to elected representatives . seemingly unending reach . On such
Subsequently, other New England a continent, natural conditions pro-
colonies — such as Connecticut and moted a tough individualism, as
Rhode Island — also succeeded in people became used to making their
becoming self-governing simply by own decisions . Government pene-
asserting that they were beyond any trated the backcountry only slowly,
governmental authority, and then and conditions of anarchy often pre-
setting up their own political sys- vailed on the frontier .
tem modeled after that of the Pil-
Yet the assumption of self-gov-
grims at Plymouth .
ernment in the colonies did not go
In only two cases was the self- entirely unchallenged . In the 1670s,
government provision omitted . the Lords of Trade and Plantations,
These were New York, which was a royal committee established to en-
granted to Charles II’s brother, the force the mercantile system in the
Duke of York (later to become King colonies, moved to annul the Massa-
James II), and Georgia, which was chusetts Bay charter because the col-
granted to a group of “trustees .” In ony was resisting the government’s
both instances the provisions for economic policy . James II in 1685
governance were short-lived, for the approved a proposal to create a Do-
colonists demanded legislative rep- minion of New England and place
resentation so insistently that the au- colonies south through New Jersey
thorities soon yielded .
under its jurisdiction, thereby tight-
In the mid-17th century, the ening the Crown’s control over the
English were too distracted by whole region . A royal governor, Sir
their Civil War (1642-49) and
Edmund Andros, levied taxes by ex-
Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan Com- ecutive order, implemented a num-
monwealth to pursue an effective ber of other harsh measures, and
colonial policy . After the restora- jailed those who resisted .
tion of Charles II and the Stuart
When news of the Glorious Rev-
dynasty in 1660, England had more olution (1688-89), which deposed
opportunity to attend to colonial James II in England, reached Boston,
administration . Even then, how- the population rebelled and impris-
ever, it was inefficient and lacked oned Andros . Under a new charter,
a coherent plan . The colonies were Massachusetts and Plymouth were
left largely to their own devices .
united for the first time in 1691 as
The remoteness afforded by a vast the royal colony of Massachusetts
ocean also made control of the colo- Bay . The other New England colo-
nies difficult . Added to this was the nies quickly reinstalled their previ-
character of life itself in early Amer- ous governments .
ica . From countries limited in space
The English Bill of Rights and
and dotted with populous towns, the Toleration Act of 1689 affirmed
31