Early English settlers in America created positions in their government like sheriff, coroner, justice of the peace, etc. These positions were modeled after English governmental positions.
- These settlers also brought with them the concept of limited government. This is the belief that government is not all-powerful and people have certain rights the government can't take away.
- This idea of limited government was first created in England with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. This took place almost 800 years ago.
- The first successful English settelment was Jamestown in 1607.
- These English settlers also brought with them the concept of representational government. This concept states that people run the government through elected representatives. We still use this today in the U.S.
- In 1215 King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta by a group of barons. He didn't want to sign this document because it limited his powers. However, these barons forced King John to do so and thus was the birth of limited government.
- The Magna Carta included such rights as trial by jury, due process of law, and rights of life, liberty, or property. These rights are also in our U.S. Constitution today.
- These rights were originally intended for the upper class but through time have been applied, in many documents, to all people.
- The Petition of Right was another document that limited the King's power. It said the king could not imprison political critics and could not require people to shelter troops without their consent. Again, these rights are included in our U.S. Constitution today.
- In 1688 there was much turmoil in England which led to a revolution. This revolution that happened in 1688 was called the Glorious Revolution. The result of the revolution was the crowning of William and Mary by Parliament. A year later Parliament had William and Mary sign the English Bill of Rights which once again limited the kings powers.
- This document included such rights as guaranteed right to a fair and speedy trial, freedom from excessive bail, and from cruel and unusual punishment. All which are in our U.S. Constitution.
- The 13 English colonies were formed over a period of 125 years with Virginia being the first and Georgia being the last. All 13 colonies were based on a charter. A charter is written permission from the king.
- The 13 colonies were divided into three groups, Royal, Proprietary, and Charter.
- The Royal colonies were under direct control of the king. There were 8 royal colonies including New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
- In the Royal colonies the king would personally appoint a governor to serve as the colony's chief executive or governor. The king also appointed a council to be an advisory body to the governor. This council became the upper house in the colony's government.
- The lower house of the bicameral legislature was elected by those property owners qualified to vote. Bicameral means a legislature with two houses.
- The Proprietary colonies were Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. These colonies has a proprietor who was given the colony by the king and this proprietor could govern that colony however they chose. However, the colony still belonged to the king and to England.
- The first proprietary colony was Maryland in 1632. Maryland was given to Lord Baltimore by the king. The next was Pennsylvania in 1681. It was given to William Penn. William Penn then became the proprietor of Deleware in 1682.
- All 13 colonies except Pennsylvania had bicameral legislatures. Pennsylvania had a unicameral legislature or one house.
- The charter colonies were Connecticut and Rhode Island. These two colonies were run by the people who lived in those colonies. The upper class voted for the governor and the people in the upper and lower houses.
- In 1754 Ben Franklin created an idea called the Albany Plan of Union. This plan consisted of the 13 colonies meeting annually to talk about taxes, war and peace with the native americans, trade, and raising military and naval forces. Ben Franlin's idea was rejected by the king.
- In 1760 King George III took over and bad feelings began to stir between the colonies and England. King George III started dealing very firmly with the colonies including taxing them very heavily. These colonists objected to taxes they had no part in levying. They called this "taxation without representation." This would eventually lead to the American Revolution.
- Taxation without representation continued with such taxes as the Stamp Act of 1765, which put a tax on stamps, legal documents, and newpapers, among other things.
- Because of the Stamp Act, 9 of the 13 colonies met in New York at the Stamp Act Congress. Here they prepared a document called the Declaration of Rights and Grievances. This document was sent to King George III and explained to him certain rights he was taking away from the colonies and their dissatisfaction with taxation without representation.
- King George III repealed the Stamp Act, but friction mounted. Some of the colonists began to boycott, or refuse to buy or sell British goods.
- Over the next ten years King George continued his taxes and also continued to send more and more redcoats to the colonies to restore order. Eventually on March 3, 1770 British troops fired into an angry crowd of Bostonians and killed five. This event became known as the Boston Massacre.
- By 1773 protests of King George were abundant. On December 16, 1773 a group of colonists disguised as Native Americans, boarded three tea ships and dumped the tea into the Boston Harbor to protest British control of tea trade. This became known as the Boston Tea Party.
- After the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party, 55 delegates from every colony except Georgia met in Philadelphia in 1774. This became known as the First Continental Congress.
- Here the colonists seriously discussed the possibility of a revolution. Most of the colonists, however, still didn't want to go to war with England.
- After this meeting the king continued his strict control over the colonies.
- The first battle of the American Revolution, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, took place in April of 1775. Three weeks later in May of 1775, the Second Continental Congress met.
- This time all 13 colonies were present and John Hancock was chosen as the President of the Congress. George Washington was chosen as the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.
- This congress was also responsible for the creation of our first consitution called the Articles of Confederation.
- In 1776 the 2nd Continental Congress named 5 people to write a Declaration of Independence. These five people were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. Thomas Jefferson, however, did most of the writing and gets credit for doing so.
- After the war had started and the Declaration of Independence was written each of the 13 colonies starting creating their own state constitutions.
- All of the Constitutions were very different but shared four things in common.
1) popular sovereignty
2) limited government
3) civil rights
4) separation of powers; checks and balances
- The Articles of Confederation became the first national constitution in the U.S. However, this document gave no power to any national government and gave sole power to the states. This document lacked much that was needed to unite the 13 states. It proved to be very weak.
- Eventually the Articles of Confederation would be replaced by the U.S. Constitution which we still use some 200 years later.
- In 1783 the 13 colonies had accomplished something no one thought they could. They had beaten Britain and gained their independence. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed officially ending the war.
- The Articles of Confederation lasted a little over 10 years. Because they were so weak chaos ensued in the colonies. It was obvious it had to be replaced. Therefore, meetings began to be held to restore some order and form some sort of national gov't.
- Delegates from 7 of the 13 states met in Philadelphia to replace the Articles of Confederation. This meeting became known as the Constitutional Convention. Many delegates favored a strong national government while others favored a weak national government.
- Because of this disagreement, framers of the Constitution began to debate how our new government should be structured.
- One idea was called the Virginia Plan. This plan called for three separate branches, a bicameral legislature and representation based on the state's population. The lower house of the bicameral legislature would be called the House of Representatives and would consist of those voted in by the people who lived in that state.
- The upper house called the Senate would be voted in by the members of the House of Representatives.
- Another plan was the New Jersey Plan. It called for a unicameral legislature and equal representation between each state. This plan favored the smaller states where the Virginia plan favored the larger states.
- Because these two plans were very different a compromise had to be created between the two plans. This compromise would be called the Connecticut Compromise. It consisted of a two house legislature. The upper house would have equal representation and the lower house would have representation based on population.
- After this compromise was made a new debate popped up over rather or not to count slaves toward a states population or not. The slave owning states wanted them to count while the states with fewer slaves did not think slaves should count.
- Because of this the Three-Fifths Compromise said that all free people would count toward a state's population while 3 out of every 5 slaves would count.
- Those who supported the new Constitution were called the Federalists. Those who didn't support the new Constitution were called Anti-Federalists.
- Each state began to ratify or approve the new Constitution. The last state to ratify the U.S. Constitution was Rhode Island in May of 1790.
- These settlers also brought with them the concept of limited government. This is the belief that government is not all-powerful and people have certain rights the government can't take away.
- This idea of limited government was first created in England with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. This took place almost 800 years ago.
- The first successful English settelment was Jamestown in 1607.
- These English settlers also brought with them the concept of representational government. This concept states that people run the government through elected representatives. We still use this today in the U.S.
- In 1215 King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta by a group of barons. He didn't want to sign this document because it limited his powers. However, these barons forced King John to do so and thus was the birth of limited government.
- The Magna Carta included such rights as trial by jury, due process of law, and rights of life, liberty, or property. These rights are also in our U.S. Constitution today.
- These rights were originally intended for the upper class but through time have been applied, in many documents, to all people.
- The Petition of Right was another document that limited the King's power. It said the king could not imprison political critics and could not require people to shelter troops without their consent. Again, these rights are included in our U.S. Constitution today.
- In 1688 there was much turmoil in England which led to a revolution. This revolution that happened in 1688 was called the Glorious Revolution. The result of the revolution was the crowning of William and Mary by Parliament. A year later Parliament had William and Mary sign the English Bill of Rights which once again limited the kings powers.
- This document included such rights as guaranteed right to a fair and speedy trial, freedom from excessive bail, and from cruel and unusual punishment. All which are in our U.S. Constitution.
- The 13 English colonies were formed over a period of 125 years with Virginia being the first and Georgia being the last. All 13 colonies were based on a charter. A charter is written permission from the king.
- The 13 colonies were divided into three groups, Royal, Proprietary, and Charter.
- The Royal colonies were under direct control of the king. There were 8 royal colonies including New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
- In the Royal colonies the king would personally appoint a governor to serve as the colony's chief executive or governor. The king also appointed a council to be an advisory body to the governor. This council became the upper house in the colony's government.
- The lower house of the bicameral legislature was elected by those property owners qualified to vote. Bicameral means a legislature with two houses.
- The Proprietary colonies were Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. These colonies has a proprietor who was given the colony by the king and this proprietor could govern that colony however they chose. However, the colony still belonged to the king and to England.
- The first proprietary colony was Maryland in 1632. Maryland was given to Lord Baltimore by the king. The next was Pennsylvania in 1681. It was given to William Penn. William Penn then became the proprietor of Deleware in 1682.
- All 13 colonies except Pennsylvania had bicameral legislatures. Pennsylvania had a unicameral legislature or one house.
- The charter colonies were Connecticut and Rhode Island. These two colonies were run by the people who lived in those colonies. The upper class voted for the governor and the people in the upper and lower houses.
- In 1754 Ben Franklin created an idea called the Albany Plan of Union. This plan consisted of the 13 colonies meeting annually to talk about taxes, war and peace with the native americans, trade, and raising military and naval forces. Ben Franlin's idea was rejected by the king.
- In 1760 King George III took over and bad feelings began to stir between the colonies and England. King George III started dealing very firmly with the colonies including taxing them very heavily. These colonists objected to taxes they had no part in levying. They called this "taxation without representation." This would eventually lead to the American Revolution.
- Taxation without representation continued with such taxes as the Stamp Act of 1765, which put a tax on stamps, legal documents, and newpapers, among other things.
- Because of the Stamp Act, 9 of the 13 colonies met in New York at the Stamp Act Congress. Here they prepared a document called the Declaration of Rights and Grievances. This document was sent to King George III and explained to him certain rights he was taking away from the colonies and their dissatisfaction with taxation without representation.
- King George III repealed the Stamp Act, but friction mounted. Some of the colonists began to boycott, or refuse to buy or sell British goods.
- Over the next ten years King George continued his taxes and also continued to send more and more redcoats to the colonies to restore order. Eventually on March 3, 1770 British troops fired into an angry crowd of Bostonians and killed five. This event became known as the Boston Massacre.
- By 1773 protests of King George were abundant. On December 16, 1773 a group of colonists disguised as Native Americans, boarded three tea ships and dumped the tea into the Boston Harbor to protest British control of tea trade. This became known as the Boston Tea Party.
- After the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party, 55 delegates from every colony except Georgia met in Philadelphia in 1774. This became known as the First Continental Congress.
- Here the colonists seriously discussed the possibility of a revolution. Most of the colonists, however, still didn't want to go to war with England.
- After this meeting the king continued his strict control over the colonies.
- The first battle of the American Revolution, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, took place in April of 1775. Three weeks later in May of 1775, the Second Continental Congress met.
- This time all 13 colonies were present and John Hancock was chosen as the President of the Congress. George Washington was chosen as the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.
- This congress was also responsible for the creation of our first consitution called the Articles of Confederation.
- In 1776 the 2nd Continental Congress named 5 people to write a Declaration of Independence. These five people were Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. Thomas Jefferson, however, did most of the writing and gets credit for doing so.
- After the war had started and the Declaration of Independence was written each of the 13 colonies starting creating their own state constitutions.
- All of the Constitutions were very different but shared four things in common.
1) popular sovereignty
2) limited government
3) civil rights
4) separation of powers; checks and balances
- The Articles of Confederation became the first national constitution in the U.S. However, this document gave no power to any national government and gave sole power to the states. This document lacked much that was needed to unite the 13 states. It proved to be very weak.
- Eventually the Articles of Confederation would be replaced by the U.S. Constitution which we still use some 200 years later.
- In 1783 the 13 colonies had accomplished something no one thought they could. They had beaten Britain and gained their independence. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed officially ending the war.
- The Articles of Confederation lasted a little over 10 years. Because they were so weak chaos ensued in the colonies. It was obvious it had to be replaced. Therefore, meetings began to be held to restore some order and form some sort of national gov't.
- Delegates from 7 of the 13 states met in Philadelphia to replace the Articles of Confederation. This meeting became known as the Constitutional Convention. Many delegates favored a strong national government while others favored a weak national government.
- Because of this disagreement, framers of the Constitution began to debate how our new government should be structured.
- One idea was called the Virginia Plan. This plan called for three separate branches, a bicameral legislature and representation based on the state's population. The lower house of the bicameral legislature would be called the House of Representatives and would consist of those voted in by the people who lived in that state.
- The upper house called the Senate would be voted in by the members of the House of Representatives.
- Another plan was the New Jersey Plan. It called for a unicameral legislature and equal representation between each state. This plan favored the smaller states where the Virginia plan favored the larger states.
- Because these two plans were very different a compromise had to be created between the two plans. This compromise would be called the Connecticut Compromise. It consisted of a two house legislature. The upper house would have equal representation and the lower house would have representation based on population.
- After this compromise was made a new debate popped up over rather or not to count slaves toward a states population or not. The slave owning states wanted them to count while the states with fewer slaves did not think slaves should count.
- Because of this the Three-Fifths Compromise said that all free people would count toward a state's population while 3 out of every 5 slaves would count.
- Those who supported the new Constitution were called the Federalists. Those who didn't support the new Constitution were called Anti-Federalists.
- Each state began to ratify or approve the new Constitution. The last state to ratify the U.S. Constitution was Rhode Island in May of 1790.
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